Kate Telman is a senior executive officer in The Business, a powerful and massively discreet transglobal organisation whose origins predate the Christian Church Financially transparent, internally democratic, it wants to buy its own State to gain a seat at the United Nations Kate's job is to keep abreast of current technological developments and her global reach stretches from Silicon Valley to the remote Himalayas In the course of her journey Kate must peel away layers of emotional insulation and the assumptions of a lifetime She must learn to control the world at arm's length