Guest post written by Anna Bright Is Hiding Something author Susie Orman Schnall
Susie Orman Schnall is the author of five novels about ambitious women: Anna Bright Is Hiding Something (2023), We Came Here to Shine(2020), The Subway Girls (2018), The Balance Project (2015), and On Grace (2014). She’s also a screenwriter currently shopping her first pilot and feature-length screenplay. A mother of three sons, Susie grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and now lives with her husband in New York. When she’s not reading or writing you can find her doing a crossword puzzle, playing around on Canva, or hiking to the top of a mountain.
About Anna Bright Is Hiding Something: The Dropout meets Inventing Anna in this cinematic and page-turning summer read! A ripped-from-the-headlines story set in the glossy offices of Silicon Valley startups and NYC new media, Anna Bright Is Hiding Something explores our fascination with female founders breaking barriers—and sometimes behaving badly in the process.
News stories about startup culture, female founders, and life in Silicon Valley are rampant. But novels about these worlds are harder to find. Not anymore. Here, six of the best books you can stock up on for the summer to get a sense of what it’s really like behind the scenes when ambitious women take the reins.
The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam
When the app Asha created explodes into the next big thing, she should be happy, shouldn’t she? But why does she feel invisible in the boardroom of her own company? Why are decisions being made without her? Gripping, witty and razor-sharp, The Startup Wife is a blistering novel about big ambitions, speaking out and standing up for what you believe in.
“A whip-smart, funny, and searing look at the wild world of startups.” —Good Morning America Book Club Buzz Pick
Under the Influence by Noelle Crooks
Accepting the job with self-help guru Charlotte Green’s startup The Greenhouse, means a move to Nashville for broke and lonely Harper Cruz, and she is quickly dazzled by the glamorous world Charlotte has built. The Greenhouse is more family than workplace, and Harper soon finds herself swept into its inner circle. But the deeper Harper is pulled into Charlotte’s world, the more she realizes that having it all and being it all comes with a price.
“Crooks debuts with a magnetic story…Readers will gobble up this intelligent update on The Devil Wears Prada for the digital age.”—Publishers Weekly
Anna Bright Is Hiding Something by Susie Orman Schnall
Anna Bright is committing fraud. But nobody knows it yet. When ambitious journalist Jamie Roman learns about Anna’s misconduct, she embarks on a bicoastal journey to expose the crimes and make a name for herself as a journalist. It’s not long before Anna learns what the reporter is up to, and she’ll do anything to stop Jamie—especially now that the company’s IPO is days away. A ripped-from-the-headlines story set in the glossy offices of Silicon Valley startups and NYC new media, this razor-sharp look at women in the workplace and the true meaning of success explores our fascination with female founders breaking barriers—and sometimes behaving badly in the process.
“Fans of the Hulu streaming miniseries The Dropout, about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, will enjoy this page-turner by Schnall . . . An entertaining suspense yarn about complicated, success-driven women.” —Kirkus Reviews
Startup by Doree Shafrir
Before the ink on mindfulness app TakeOff’s latest round of funding is dry, an errant text message hints that the CEO may be working a bit too closely with a young social media manager. When his bad behavior collides with an ambitious journalist’s search for a salacious post, TakeOff goes viral for all the wrong reasons. An assured, observant debut from the veteran online journalist Doree Shafrir, Startup is a sharp, hugely entertaining story of youth, ambition, love, money and technology’s inability to hack human nature.
“Shafrir has a deft, easy touch, but her take on gender politics in the workplace is razor-sharp. This ruthlessly clever look behind the scenes at a New York start-up demands a sequel.”―People
Self Care by Leigh Stein
The female cofounders of a wellness start-up struggle to find balance between being good people and doing good business, while trying to stay BFFs. Self Care delves into the lives and psyches of people working in the wellness industry and exposes the world behind the filter.
“Though the turmoil at the center of [the novel] is entertaining, its twist ending a clawed swipe at the irony of the scarcity myth, it’s not the thing that kept me reading. Instead, it was Stein’s deft navitagion of the shades of superficial feminism, the lexicon of start-up culture and the tone of a generation reckoning with how to be honest with itself.” —Los Angeles Times
Valley Verified by Kyla Zhao
When disillusioned fashion writer Zoe accepts an offer at a startup in Silicon Valley and swaps high fashion for high tech, she soon realizes that in an industry claiming to change the world for the better, not everyone’s intentions are pure. With an eight-figure investment on the line, Zoe must find a way to revamp FitPick’s image despite Silicon Valley’s elitism and her icy colleagues. Or the company’s future will go up in smoke—and hers with it.
“Sharp and incisive yet brimming with heart, Valley Verified establishes Kyla Zhao as one of our brightest chroniclers of Gen Z ambition, idealism, and passion. A riveting, satisfying read.”—Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit
