sewn paper
e-mail the Author
Entrepreneurship
May 2000
272 pages
ISBN 0-88984-206-X
$19.95
Great Expectations
Grant C Robinson`One of the keys to
the success of this narrative is its reality, its vibrancy of
setting and character portrayal, and, in particular, the
consistently deft handling of the dialogue which does so much to
draw the reader into the motives and emotions of the characters.'
- Canadian Literature
Thom and Sophie Penmaen are typical small-town Canadian entrepreneurs whose accustomed regimen... of diligent creditors, mind-numbing work days, negative cashflow, endless family feuds, quiet nights of looming deadlines, inopportune power failures and attendant local digital catastrophes ... is suddenly thrown into sharp relief by the unexpected arrival in Glendaele Village of Geoffrey Bowles, emissary of the reclusive financier Galen Nicholas Aldebaan, whose grand vision of a `horizontally-integrated communications company' apparently, for whatever bizarre reason, includes little Penmaen Lithography.
Thom and Sophie are forced to consider their future, to turn dreams into language, to talk to each other, to listen, to think and, not co-incidentally, to put a dollar value on Penmaen Lithography ... to put a price on their personal sense of pride.
`Take the wry humour of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town and fuse it with the business wisdom of The Wealthy Barber and you'll get a good sense of this novel's charms. Author Grant C. Robinson (CA magazine's own Business Advisor technical editor) tells the tale of Thom and Sophie Penmaen, owners of a village printing shop, whose lives are disrupted when merchant bank Pegaesean Corp. seeks to acquire the business.
`The ensuing drama focuses on the Penmaens' attempt to evaluate their business in both financial and personal terms. The former is achieved through the author's clear, yet painless, explanations of balance sheet mechanics (Robinson is an FCA, after all) and the latter, through encounters with the firm's zany employees and the loony townsfolk. One of the book's comic highlights is the delusional train of thought that begins with Thom's half-digested grasp of business evaluation tools, and culminates in a seven-figure asking price for his company - a concern that netted $143.30 in annual profits.
`To find out if he becomes a millionaire, you'll have to read the book.
`Besides borrowing Dickens' title, Robinson follows in the Victorian master's footsteps by populating the book with unforgettable character names - Jake Wellcock, Rebeca Labellarte and a succession of lithography pressmen, Young Lucky, John Barleycorn and Philippe LeBoubon. They stand on the shoulders of their Dickensian antecedents: Abel Magwitch, Uncle Pumblechook and Mrs. Biddy Gargery. At the pinnacle of the name game stands the exotic Galen Nicholas Aldebaan, founder of the Pegaesean Corp. As depicted in the book, Aldebaan's career suggests that of a real-life Bay Street baron, whose younger brother has won both the Booker, and the Giller, Prize. It is one of many dry-martini-with-a-twist delights to be found in this book.'
Ken Mark, CA magazine
Grant Robinson is the CEO of Robinson & Company, Chartered Accountants, a consulting group which facilitates the transition of family businesses from one generation to the next. Grant is active within the community and was awarded a Fellowship of the Ontario Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA) in 1991. Great Expectations is his first book-length publication.