In For a Penny, In For a Pound

A penniless publisher teetering on the brink... Hugh Emerson runs a glamorous upmarket publishing house. But literature doesn't pay the bills, and now his bestselling author is the subject of a tabloid scandal. Emerson Publishing needs cash, fast. A newspaper dynasty struggling to survive... Ned Macaulay, heir to a newspaper dynasty and Hugh's best friend, steps in to help. But Ned has problems of his own. The family firm is on the brink of bankruptcy, and to save it he must confront his despotic father and outsmart the self-serving sycophants at Waring's bank. Ruthless bankers closing in for the kill... Soon Hugh and Ned are dragged into a cut-throat world of devious investors and muck-raking journalists. It's darker and dirtier than they ever imagined - but if they want to succeed, they know they have to play dirty too. In times like these, once you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound.

Tim Waterstone read English at Cambridge University before moving to Calcutta to work for a broking firm. On returning to England, he worked at W.H. Smith for eight years, and went on to establish the bookselling chain Waterstone's in 1982. He became the founder chairman of HMV media group in 1998, which he left in 2001. He is currently the chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University and a board member of Yale University Press, as well as being a novelist and business speaker.