Synopses & Reviews
Money. It affects us all, so why is it so difficult to discuss? Even as daily headlines broadcast ever more alarming news about the fate of the American economy, few people are willing to acknowledge the enormous impact that personal finance has on their private affairs. Until now.
In this compelling anthology of original essays, some of the country's most respected women writers reveal their deepest feelings about money and how it affects their most intimate relationships—with parents, children, spouses, siblings, and ultimately with themselves. They examine the childhood experiences that set up lifelong, and sometimes self-destructive, financial habits. And they divulge how all the intangibles—romance, status, power, security—become tangled up in their financial lives.
The essays in these pages are written from many different perspectives: a single woman trying to reconcile feminism with a secret desire to be supported by a man; a wife with radically different spending habits from her husband's; a divorcée who has become the family's chief breadwinner; a single mother struggling to make ends meet. They also explore complicated social issues. Sheri Holman (The Dress Lodger) reveals how she fell in love with a homeless drug addict. Leslie Bennetts (The Feminine Mistake) weighs the social and emotional costs of giving her children a private-school education among the super-rich. Bliss Broyard (One Drop) ruminates on the intricacies of maintaining friendships with wealthier friends. And Amy Cohen (The Late Bloomer's Revolution) considers the price—financial and otherwise—of having a child on her own.
Witty, nuanced, and startlingly intimate, The Secret Currency of Love offers a transformative look at the delicate nature of love and money. This riveting collection will spark debate by inspiring readers to reexamine their own emotional connection to their finances. As Americans struggle to make rational choices in a frightening economy, these brave, revealing essays by some of today's most esteemed writers provide insight into how a modern generation of women is defining itself in the new social economy.
Review
“The most interesting anthology Ive seen in years. I read it with fascination, to the very last page.” Cathi Hanauer, novelist and editor of The Bitch in the House
Review
“Multiple themes are explored in personal and heartfelt ways: money is success, failure, control, submission, love and hate. Money can mean the chance at motherhood or the ruin of a marriage. In the end, money is everything and nothing.” Forbes
Review
“This exceptionally honest and poignant collection deserves a place on the bookshelves of women of all ages, backgrounds, income, net worth levels and walks of life.” Publishers Weekly (starred review and Pick of the Week)
Review
“Well-written first-person accounts result in an engrossing read throughout. Its easy to be affected by their experiences, with emotions running the gamut of happy to dismay to sadness at some outcomes.” New Straits Times (Malaysia)
Review
“Deeply honest and scandalously revealing, THE SECRET CURRENCY OF LOVE offers a mirror into our own complicated feelings about money and relationshipsand every woman who reads it will see herself in its pages. You wont be able to put it down!” Liz Lange, Founder, Liz Lange Maternity
Review
“Funny, insightful and brutally honest, this book is Sex and The City meets The Wall Street Journal, with a sprinkle of Dostoevsky. Hilary Black has inspired stellar writers to wax poetic (and at times, hilariously pathetic) on the last taboo: money. Juicy, smart, dramatic and insightfulan addictive read.” Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties
Review
“Introducing the 27 emotionally invested and powerfully introspective essays in THE SECRET CURRENCY OF LOVE. All the bases are covered here, from the hard lessons women learn (and impart) to the inextricability of romance and cold hard cash.” Elle
Review
“Everyone wants to know their worth, in both love and money but the lessons lie in the tension between the two. The women who authored this incredible collection of essays dare to get inside that conflict and unpeel the complicated truths that make up our life stories.” Stacy Morrison, Editor-in-Chief, Redbook Magazine
Review
“A compelling new anthology that offers a fascinating look at how women view money that is, by turns witty, scandalous, poignant and heart-rending.” San Antonio Express-News
Review
“A compelling new anthology, The Secret Currency of Love: The Unabashed Truth about Women, Money, and Relationships. In it, a number of prominent female writers (including Julia Glass, Lauri Abraham and Joni Evans) spill the beans about money in their own lives.” Time magazine
Synopsis
"
Sex & The City meets
The Wall Street Journal....Juicy, smart, dramatic and insightful--an addictive read."
--Beth Kobliner, author of
Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties
In
The Secret Currency of Love, edited by Hilary Black, acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning women writers explore the fraught and powerful connections between love and money. As featured on the "Today Show"--with contributions by Karen Karbo, Kathryn Harrison, Lori Gottlieb, Julia Glass, Rebecca Traister, Dani Shapiro, Amy Sohn, and others--
The Secret Currency of Love takes an unabashed look at relationships through the often-distorting lens of finance. As
Elle magazine informs us, "All the bases are covered here, from the hard lessons women learn (and impart) to the inextricability of romance and cold hard cash."
Synopsis
“Sex & The City meets The Wall Street Journal....Juicy, smart, dramatic and insightful—an addictive read.”
—Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties
In The Secret Currency of Love, edited by Hilary Black, acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning women writers explore the fraught and powerful connections between love and money. As featured on the "Today Show"--with contributions by Karen Karbo, Kathryn Harrison, Lori Gottlieb, Julia Glass, Rebecca Traister, Dani Shapiro, Amy Sohn, and others--The Secret Currency of Love takes an unabashed look at relationships through the often-distorting lens of finance. As Elle magazine informs us, “All the bases are covered here, from the hard lessons women learn (and impart) to the inextricability of romance and cold hard cash.”
About the Author
During her career as an editor in books and magazines, Hilary Black has held positions at Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, More magazine (where she was a founding editor), and Tango magazine (as editor in chief). She lives with her husband in New York City.