NewsBite

Siobhan McKenna reveals the ‘dark side’ of big business in her debut novel Man In Armour

Siobhan McKenna knows Australian big business intimately — and she is about to lift the lid on the “dark side” of her world.

Top end of town ... Siobhan McKenna at the launch of Damon Kitney's book 'The Price of Fortune: The Untold Story of Being James Packer' with PR consultant John Connolly and Graham Bourke, CEO of Village Roadshow.
Top end of town ... Siobhan McKenna at the launch of Damon Kitney's book 'The Price of Fortune: The Untold Story of Being James Packer' with PR consultant John Connolly and Graham Bourke, CEO of Village Roadshow.

Siobhan McKenna knows big business better than most — and her debut novel is an authentic expose of what can happen in a world of power, money and deal-making.

Publishers HarperCollins Australia today revealed they had acquired Man In Armo u r — about an investment banker struggling under the pressure of his testosterone-driven, dog-eat-dog existence — for release later this year.

McKenna, the Group Director of Broadcasting for News Corp, said she hopes the book “provides readers with a glimpse into the dark side of my world. A world in which the path to success reshapes everyone, often to the point where even the most resilient don’t recognise themselves.”

A glimpse into a fascinating world ... News Corp director Siobhan McKenna.
A glimpse into a fascinating world ... News Corp director Siobhan McKenna.

The author is well-placed to deliver on that.

Described by HarperCollins as “an ultimate business insider”, McKenna is a director of a number of listed and non-listed Australian companies including Foxtel, Nova Entertainment and Woolworths, and a former commissioner of the Australian Productivity Commission and former chairman of the NBN.

“This is a novel of genuine, extraordinary power, which gives us a glimpse into a fascinating world — totally foreign to most of us — which we can barely comprehend,” said Catherine Milne, Head of Fiction at HarperCollins Australia.

Money talks ... the cover of McKenna’s forthcoming Man In Armour.
Money talks ... the cover of McKenna’s forthcoming Man In Armour.

Speaking of McKenna’s protagonist Charles, a man in crisis at work and home who is trying to shield himself from the brutality of his corporate role, Milne adds: “I read it with a kind of fascinated compulsion — half horror, half pity for this man who has so protected himself, he’s cut himself off from the world.”

HarperCollins, which is part of the News Corp group of businesses, will publish Man In Armour under the Fourth Estate imprint on 5 August 2020.

Business insider ... Siobhan McKenna (right) at a Women In TV event with Sigrid Thornton and Ticky Fullerton.
Business insider ... Siobhan McKenna (right) at a Women In TV event with Sigrid Thornton and Ticky Fullerton.

Originally published as Siobhan McKenna reveals the ‘dark side’ of big business in her debut novel Man In Armour

Original URL: https://www.themercury.com.au/entertainment/books/siobhan-mckenna-reveals-the-dark-side-of-big-business-in-her-debut-novel-man-in-armour/news-story/7b5fe8ac41b0b11f07671e4ccd4f42ec