Tender Offer

(Knopf 1981)

An immensely pleasurable novel about a single parent and self-made businesswoman who parleyed a fudge recipe into a multimillion dollar candy company, suddenly faced with the threat of a conglomerate takeover. On behalf of Phoebe's Fudge, Phoebe Newcomb is outraged, terrified, and determined to fight. But, while counting on the support of her company's other major stockholders - her two grown children - Phoebe is forced to confront the possibility that, in lavishing her energies on the business and her devoted employees, she may have stinted her own daughter and son, each of whom for different reasons is tempted by the tender offer. Not even her mentor is absolutely behind her, and her relationship with her lover also becomes entangled in the crisis, as Phoebe loses confidence in her ability to control the destiny of her own creation.

TENDER OFFER is an intelligent and entertaining look at Wall Street warfare, and a superb portrait of the entrepreneurial personality as role model, mother, friend, fighter, and lover.