Summary
Nobody is quite sure what The Business does, but it's been around seemingly forever, possibly even pre-dating the Roman Empire--which it owned for about two months. The Business operates on a massive financial scale and is rumored to possess, among other riches, several sets of Crown Jewels. Into the lap of senior executive officer Kate Telman falls The Business' latest ambition--purchase the small nation of Thulahn and secure a seat at the United Nations. A fantastically original tale, The Business is further enhanced by a riveting narration from Barbara Rosenblat. It is a book sure to please Banks' dedicated fans and make converts of those who haven't yet had the pleasure of reading his remarkable prose.
Iain Banks was born in Fife in 1954 and was educated at Stirling University where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology.
Banks came to widespread and controversial public note with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. His first science fiction novel, Consider Phlebas, was published in 1987. He continued to write both mainstream fiction (as Iain Banks) and science fiction (as Iain M. Banks).
Banks' mainstream fiction included The Wasp Factory (1984), Walking on Glass (1985), The Bridge (1986), Espedair Street (1987), Canal Dreams (1989), The Crow Road (1992), Complicity (1993), Whit (1995), A Song of Stone (1997), The Business (1999), Dead Air (2002) and The Steep Approach to Garbadale (2007).
His final book, The Quarry, was released posthumously on June 20, 2013. Banks died on June 9, 2013 of terminal gall bladder cancer. (Bowker Author Biography)
