E-Mails from the Edge

Tami Oliphant is a Ph.D. candidate in Library and Information Studies at the University of Western Ontario.

E-Mails from the Edge follows the adventures and career of Constance
Beaman, MBA, as she moves from self-improvement sycophant to corporate
subversive. In a series of frantic and funny emails to her mentor,
Rosalind, Constance reveals the downside of corporate life: the endless
hours, futile and humiliating team-building exercises, bosses to
appease, the theft of ideas, the perils of being a woman in a man’s
world, and the constant threat of redundancy.

We first meet Constance as she embarks on her career at a large
multinational company. Constance is committed to becoming a “Credible
Businesswoman” through continuous self-improvement, delivering
deliverables, giving presentations to the “Big Guys,” appeasing
temperamental bosses, and eating healthy and nutritious food. But when a
colleague dies, Constance is transformed from a corporate warrior into a
corporate culture jammer instead, making a mockery of the company’s
security system, artwork, and new PASSION program.

Lynne Everatt is a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail. Her 15
years’ experience in the corporate world is evident in this
insightful, energetic, and very funny novel. Some readers may have
problems with the book’s email format (the longer emails in particular
are difficult to read), but that is a minor drawback. E-Mails from the
Edge is recommended for all public libraries and MBAs.