The Trade Off

Bea has always been a standout, a genius with numbers who consistently topped her class. With a mind that effortlessly calculates and visualizes patterns, she excelled in the stock market like it was second nature. After attending Hunter college most women were getting married but Bea dreamed of becoming a stock broker. In the 1920’s women didn’t work on Wall Street and even though Bea was more than qualified the banks shunned her. Weaseling her way into a position in the wire room Bea was convinced she could prove her value. But the Abramovitz family was struggling. Living in the Lower East Side with her immigrant parents and twin brother was not easy. While her father managed a fruit and vegetable cart, her charming brother was a handful. Bea was expected to marry and stop this silly nonsense of a career. But she loved the rollercoaster ride of the fast paced market and it didn’t take long for the men at the bank to depend on her skills. Unfortunately, the promotion she never appeared. Bea would always be poor and a woman with no connections. As she watched the rich get richer, the poor continued to struggle. All Bea ever wanted was to help her father establish his own grocery and give her mother a bit of the glamour she left behind in Russia. It didn’t take long for Bea and Jake to come up with a plan. He could easily slide into the banking world with Bea as his secretary. She would funnel information making him an instant superstar. As Jake’s career soared, their wealth grew beyond anything their family had ever imagined. Yet Bea never stopped seeing the patterns. In 1929, what she foresaw was catastrophe—but who would listen to a woman? This masterful work of historical fiction transports readers to another era with a richly developed cast of characters, intriguing stock market history, and plenty of family drama. A must-read for fall! Highly recommended! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐