The Feud

This week’s other featured books, “The Quelling,” by Barbara Barrow, “Birthdays Before and After,” by Puma Perl, “The Tomb of the Unknown Racist,” by Blanche McCrary Boyd and “A Bang Bang Play,” by Jack Neary, can be found by scrolling down below this post, or by clicking the author’s name on our Authors page.

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THE BOOK: The Feud

PUBLISHED IN: November 2018

THE AUTHOR: Catherine Hiller

THE EDITOR: Naomi Rosenblatt

THE PUBLISHER: Heliotrope Books.

SUMMARY: What do you do when your good friend and colleague suddenly goes rogue[ and tries to destroy your life? Nikki Elkins is hurt and baffled when Roberta Cohen, after years of friendship, unleashes a drunken tirade against her at the company Christmas party. It’s the first salvo in what becomes a brutal war. THE FEUD explores how female friendship turns into rivalry and revenge.

A newly divorced mother who starts a new life in the corporate world, Nikki initially finds a friend and mentor in Roberta Cohen, an experienced saleswoman engaged to be married. But after Nikki beats Roberta in a sales contest, the two women begin an escalating series of betrayals that threatens Nikki with the loss of her boyfriend and her reputation and Roberta with the loss of her rent-stabilized apartment and the child she longs to adopt. Then they find themselves alone in a stalled elevator . . . Nicki smokes a lot of weed. Roberta drinks a lot of wine. But can anything help them find peace?

THE BACK STORY: I worked in an office where I observed a number of female feuds. I wondered why I hadn’t read a novel about one. So after I left that company, I decided to write one. I decided it would be fun to set the book in the mid-nineties, when the internet was just starting to be in common use and cell phones were just around the corner.

WHY THIS TITLE: Generic titles sometimes do well: The Affair, The Women, The Girls. Perhaps I should have called it The Office Feud.

WHY SOMEONE WOULD WANT TO READ IT: It’s a compelling story that explores the dynamics of female friendship in the workplace. As each woman plots the downfall of the other, the reader isn’t sure who will win or who should win. There are many funny moments along the way.

REVIEW COMMENTS:

“Picture a mid-’90s, suburban New York office full of saleswomen, each successful, attractive, and competitive in her own way. Add boyfriends and sex, booze and drugs…and a spat between two of the women that soon becomes a knock-down, drag-out war. Welcome to Catherine Hiller’s latest, a light, lively romp of a read that will have you turning pages faster than you can say flip phone or World Wide Web.” — Cathi Hanauer, New York Times bestselling author of Gone and The Bitch is Back

“Roberta and Nikki begin as office friends, but the relationship soon curdles, turning the two into rivals and finally bitter enemies. Shrewd-eyed, sharp and stylish, The Feud exposes the dark secrets of women in the workplace with assurance, intelligence and wit.” — Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of The House on Primrose Pond and fiction editor, Lilith

“Catherine Hiller weaves a story of intrigue and revenge and shows us how women can cause each other piercing pain when they attack from behind. The Feud delivers emotional intensity and a realistic portrayal of the darkest side of female relationships.” — Kathi Elster, Co-Author of Mean Girls at Work and Working With You Is Killing Me.

“Catherine Hiller takes on an ancient theme – the feud between women – with humor, grace and verve.” — Roxana Robinson, author of Cost and Sparta and former Authors Guild President.

“Delicious!” — Next Tribe

AUTHOR PROFILE:  Catherine Hiller’s last book was Just Say Yes: A Marijuana Memoir. The first chapter of appeared in the New York Times Sunday Review, after which she heard from cannabis smokers around the world.

She is the author of the novels An Old Friend from High School, 17 Morton Street. California Time, Cybill in Between, and The Adventures of Sid Sawyer.

John Updike wrote that her short story collection Skin: Sensual Tales was “good, brave, and joyful writing.”

She has also written two children’s books, Argentaybee and the Boonie and Abracatabby.

She is the co-producer of two hour-long documentary films: Do Not Enter: The Visa War Against Ideas and Paul Bowles: The Complete Outsider.

Catherine Hiller has a BA from Brooklyn College and a PhD from Brown University. The mother of three adult sons, she lives with her husband and their dog in Westchester County, New York

AUTHOR COMMENTS: I enjoyed writing about the micro and macro aggressions in the corporate world. And I always like writing about sex.

SAMPLE CHAPTER:

Prologue: The Photo

April 1996

After Nikki got to work, she turned on her computer and scrolled through her email. Maybe a prospect had written back in response to one solicitation or another and was on the way to becoming a client. This actually happened every few weeks—but not today. Nikki’s email consisted of a survey from the trade show she’d just attended, a few messages from friends (she didn’t have email at home), a message from an existing client about a contract renewal (thank god), and a message with attachments from a name unfamiliar to her: attababy@hotmail.com.

The subject line read: “DC Souvenir.” The message said, “See, these digital cameras are terrific! Hope you like the pix! Great meeting you!” Without really thinking, Nikki clicked onto the first attachment, of four, and there was the picture that Geoff had taken of her in the hotel bar. And next was the picture he had taken of her friend and colleague, Roberta, another sales rep. Quite good shots, actually, and how astonishing that Geoff could send these images across the World Wide Web without needing to physically get a print developed from a negative and send it through the US mail or via FedEx. She looked at the third photograph, another good one, of herself and Roberta, heads close. They were fast becoming best of friends.

Nikki clicked on the fourth image—and almost fainted. She was naked on a hotel bed. Geoff and Mike were naked, too.

She clicked the picture closed and looked about. No one had passed in back of her; no one had seen. Her heart was pumping hard. Then Cynthia, the office manager, came along on her way to the ladies room, swaying her hips and saying, “Good lord, girl—have you just seen a ghost?”

“What do you mean?”

“You look so pale and clammy, child—are you okay? I heard you came down with something in Washington?”

Nikki said, “No, I’m fine, I just opened a strange email.”

“That email,” said Cynthia, shaking her head. “It’s changing everything. I can’t do any work because all day long it’s email, email, email. Email from Lillian. Email from Bethany. Email from you or Roberta or Yvonne.” The company was largely female.

“Well, Cynthia,” Nikki explained, “if we didn’t have email, we’d have walked over to you or called you on the phone. This is not in addition to all that, it’s instead of that.”

“It’s just a nuisance.”

“These days my job is mainly about sending or answering email,” Nikki said.

“I don’t like it,” said Cynthia, walking away. “And I don’t like how you look. Get yourself some coffee or a Coca-Cola.”

Nikki turned back to her computer and, looking around to make sure she was alone, opened the image again. Geoff must have held the camera out at arm’s length to get the shot. She hadn’t remembered hearing a camera, but perhaps these new cameras were silent, and she had lapsed into and out of consciousness much of the night. They must have put something into her drink. She closed the attachment; the image was burned into her brain. Why had Geoff sent it to her? Was he going to blackmail her? What if he had sent it to Roberta?

At that very moment, Roberta stopped by her desk.

“How are you?” she asked. “Recovered from Washington?”

“More or less,” said Nikki. The morning after that disastrous night with Mike and Geoff, she had bolted from an industry presentation to be violently sick in the ladies room. She had spent the rest of the morning asleep in her hotel room. What a shambles of a sales trip! Nikki asked, “Did you get any email from those guys we met at the bar?”

Roberta hesitated before saying, “Yes—they sent me those photos they took of you and me.”

“In the bar?”

“Yes.” After a pause, Roberta added. “They also sent another image, which I deleted at once.”

Nikki felt herself flushing crimson. She said, “I got that, too.”

“Get rid of it!” said Roberta. “I wouldn’t be surprised to learn Lillian checks our email, and you don’t want a picture like that in your inbox.” Lillian Watrous was their boss.

Nikki said, “I wonder why they sent us that?”

Roberta gave her a funny look.

“What?” asked Nikki.

Roberta said, “Maybe they thought you’d enjoy it.” She looked around. Then she whispered, “So did you?”

“You mean enjoy the photo?” Nikki was whispering, too.

Roberta shook her head. “You know what I mean.”

Nikki shook her head. She said, “I’ve never done anything like that in my life before. God, I feel so skanky!”

“Were you drunk?”

“I had only two drinks, over two hours. They must have put something into my drink. Anyway, I left the bar with Geoff, and he walked me to my room and he came in to see the view. We smoked a little pot, and soon we were on the bed. You know, it’s been over a year since I’ve had sex at all, so I felt I deserved a good time. Anyway, after a while, Mike was in the room with us, too. I don’t know how that happened, I kept blacking out. If only you hadn’t left me in the bar with them!”

“I had to call Paul,” said Roberta. Paul was her fiancé, and when she was out of town she always called him at eleven from the hotel room. “But you never answered my question. Did you enjoy it?”

LOCAL OUTLETS: Canio’s, Sag Harbor, NY; Anderson’s Larchmont, NY

WHERE ELSE TO BUY IT: Amazon

PRICE: $16.99

CONTACT THE AUTHOR: via her website, http://www.catherinehiller.net