James Tucker

In this sweepingly emotional story about what it takes to build the life you want, an heiress, her escort, and a young orphan must stick together during the tumultuous beginnings of World War II. When Laura Powell and Henry Salter travel to Paris in 1938, neither considers the other very good company. Laura is a shallow, spoiled heir to a fortune, and Henry an opportunistic bore—or so they think. But as her father’s protégé, Henry is tasked with accompanying Laura for her safety, even as she continues to scorn him. Orphaned stowaway David forces the pair to see eye to eye. They can ignore their growing feelings, but they can’t deny the boy’s need for protection. Yet even with this tentative truce, their problems are far from over. The threat of war continues to grow until the Nazis occupy Paris. But Laura and Henry have opportunities they’re not willing to lose, and a home with David means more than safety outside France. Before danger overtakes them, they’ll have to decide if the life they’re building can withstand what’s coming…and whether they have the strength to fight for it.

A growing number of contemporary organizations have management structures that are less centralized and hierarchical than the traditional bureaucratic model. This book takes a close look inside one such organization: an employee-owned manufacturing corporation. It addresses the question of how conflicts are handled when bureaucracy is greatly reduced--and its findings will surprise and enlighten many readers. Therapy, a behaviour or practice normally thought to be confined to the offices of psychiatrists and the wards of mental hospitals, turns out to be the most common way of handling conflict in the postbureaucratic work environment. James Tucker reveals that this therapeutic system of social control contrasts sharply, and tellingly, with the more authoritative--often violent--systems of social control found in more centralized and hierarchical work settings, especially those of the past.