Books Historical Fiction

The Trade Off

October 31, 2024October 31, 2024 by onemoreexclamation

Welcome to The Trade Off by Samantha Greene Woodruff book tour hosted by Suzy Approved Book Tours.

About The Trade Off

Title: The Trade Off

Author: Samantha Greene Woodruff

Pub Date: October 8, 2024

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Find it: Amazon

Bea Abramovitz is a young Jewish woman with a talent for math and an uncanny understanding of the stock market. Bea dreams of working as a broker on Wall Street and her smarts and tenacity land her an interview at the famous House of Morgan, in the new Ladies Department, a division created to manage female clientele. What she doesn’t know is that those jobs are reserved for well-to-do girls from society families, not poor immigrants from the Lower East Side. Instead, she is sent to the basement, where she gets hired for a clerical position in the wire department. She yearns to put her uncanny stock-picking skills to better use, but the male-dominated world of Wall Street won’t accept her.

When her twin brother Jake returns home after losing everything in a Ponzi scheme out west, Bea sees her opportunity: he’ll get the job on Wall Street, and she’ll pick the stocks. With Bea’s help, Jake swiftly climbs up the Wall Street ladder. But as his star rises, his insatiable desire for success rears its ugly head. Jake pushes Bea to find a bigger, flashier idea, leading to her first big mistake and driving her from Wall Street altogether.

As the decade draws to a close, everyone else is celebrating the country’s new state of “permanent prosperity” but Bea sees signs of a crash looming. Unable to convince her brother, or anyone else, she is forced to rely on herself to save her family before it is too late.

Blurbs for The Trade Off

“As a woman, a Jew, and the daughter of immigrants, Bea Abramovitz has three strikes against her, and yet, she’s determined to defy the odds and make a name for her twin brother, if not herself, on Wall Street. Rich in detail about the Roaring Twenties, The Trade Off is a profound look at sibling and family loyalties, capitalism, antisemitism, and sexism. My adrenaline ramped up just like it does before the closing bell. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough despite not wanting Woodruff’s story to end.” Renee Rosen, USA Today bestselling author of Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl

“With a cast of characters so realistic that I swear some of them used to come to Rosh Hashanah dinner at my grandmother’s house, Samantha Greene Woodruff has perfectly captured the Jewish immigrant experience of the early twentieth century in The Trade Off. Utterly satisfying and immensely enjoyable, with a nail-biting race to the conclusion, The Trade Off proves that Woodruff is an absolute powerhouse of historical fiction.”Sara Goodman Confino, bestselling author of Don’t Forget to Write

More Good News

“An unputdownable tale of one woman’s inspiring rise from the tenements of old New York to the gilded floors of Wall Street, The Trade Off is a sweeping, evocative novel that kept me reading into the night. Lush with historical detail and brimming with insight, Woodruff’s fast-moving novel presents the country’s financial collapse through one woman’s eyes, demonstrating just how hard she’ll work to propel herself and her family to riches, even if it means sacrificing her own dreams. Don’t miss this historical gem from an unforgettable writer.” Brooke Lea Foster, bestselling author of All the Summers in Between

“Samantha Greene Woodruff has created a nuanced and captivating heroine who brims with courage, loyalty, and grit. Full of 1920s razzle-dazzle, engaging prose, beautifully complex relationships, and a high-stakes suspenseful crescendo, this is a story that will draw you in from the first page and not let go until its stunning conclusion. A breathtaking look at one of the most dramatic moments in American history, The Trade Off is not to be missed!” Jacqueline Friedland, USA Today bestselling author of He Gets That from

Review for The Trade Off

Set in the Roaring 20s, this story left me wanting to come of age during this decade. The glitz, the glamour, the razzle-dazzle – all of the highs building to the bust of the Great Depression of 1929 (where I lost the desire to live in the 20s).

Our female main character has guts and grit; I couldn’t help but love her. At a time of high stakes, Bea goes all in to pursue her dream. When she notices signs of problems to come, no one will listen to her. With a cast of complex and realistic characters, they represent people of the era. This story inserted me into the 1920s seamlessly and immersed me in a decade that will live in infamy. The adrenaline built with each page and crashed along with people’s dreams. Based on exquisite research, this historical fiction is one for the books.

About The Author

Samantha Greene Woodruff has a BA in history from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business. She spent fifteen years at Viacom’s Nickelodeon before leaving to parent her two young children. After studying at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, Woodruff completed her first novel, The Lobotomist’s Wife, a #1 Amazon bestseller and Amazon First Reads pick. Her writing has appeared in Newsweek, Writer’s Digest, Female First, Read 650, and more. Woodruff lives in southern Connecticut with her husband, two children, two dogs, and a small reptile zoo.

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