Moral Hazard (Winner Of Nsw Premier's Literary Award 2003)

Description: 'Powerful, and darkly, disconcertingly comic' Margaret Walters, Sunday Times The acclaimed second novel from Kate Jennings, author of SNAKE. On Wall Street, reflects Cath, women are about as welcome as fleas in a sleeping bag. Funny, liberal and left-leaning, she is an unlikely candidate to be writing speeches on derivatives in a cubicle in a Manhattan tower. She finds herself on Wall Street because she needs serious money: after ten good years, her beloved older husband Bailey is suffering from Alzheimer's. So begins a journey into two nightmare worlds. By day Cath deals with the topsy-turvy logic and ingrown personalities at work in high finance; by night she has to watch the slow disintegration of the man she loves. In between, she must stop herself from falling apart.

Review: 'Blackly funny, coruscatingly clear-eyed and intelligent, Kate Jennings' second novel doesn't waste a word.' Maureen Duffy, author of Restitution 'A unique book by an extraordinary writer: The great city illuminated from within.' Shirley Hazzard, author of The Transit of Venus 'Her observation is acute. She mercilessly mocks "plutocrats deeply suspicious of metaphors and words of more than two syllables."' Helen Brown, Daily Telegraph 'Whip-smart, knowing and wry' People 'A remarkable achievement. Jennings brings to her novels an understanding of how to distil narrative down to its essences. She is an observer, exploring the world with objectivity, humour and refreshing irony.' Margaret Stead, Times Literary Supplement 'Unsparing and unsentimental, Jennings conveys extraordinary characters with a wry, knowing intelligence. A perfect example of less is more, Moral Hazard is both touching and funny without ever being slushy.' Big Issue 'Compelling reading. Cath's thorny humour adapts itself well to both terminal illness and terminal greed.' New York Observer 'A remarkable achievement. Jennings brings to her novels an understanding of how to distil narrative down to its essences. She is an observer, exploring the world with objectivity, humour and refreshing irony.' Margaret Stead, Times Literary Supplement 'In her spare, unsettling novel the human transactions are far more harrowing than the financial ones...her unsentimental chronicle of the progress of a disease is what makes this fine, short novel almost unbearably sad. New Yorker * Praise for Snake: 'Snake almost made the shortlist.' Simon Jenkins, chairman of the Booker panel 2000, The Times 'A writer of real power. Extraordinary.' Rose Tremain, Daily Telegraph 'Stunning -- the work of a powerful imagination' Carol Shields. 'It is an age-old theme, but Jennings explores it with feeling in this taut, poignant story. That she makes your heart ache for both her protagonists is a testimony to her artistry.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'The chapters in Snake resemble a string of prose poems. Few are longer than a short paragraph, yet each is perfectly placed to forward a narrative of pure anguish.' TLS

Prizes: Winner of NSW Premier's Literary Award Christina Stead Prize for Fiction 2003. Shortlisted for Tasmania Pacific Rim Region Prizes: Fiction 2003 and Age Book of the Year: Fiction 2002 and Miles Franklin Literary Award 2003.

Author Biography: Kate Jennings, who grew up in Australia, has lived since 1979 in New York, where she has worked as a freelance writer and senior speech writer at an investment bank. Her writings have appeared in New York Times Book Review and her first novel, Snake, received wide and enthusiastic review coverage, almost making the Booker short list.