Abacus, Time Warner Books UK, London 2000”

 “The Business” is a global company, an empire, a bit like the Catholic Church. Like them it has existed for more than 2000 years, unlike the church it has become more and more powerful and now wants to have a seat in the United Nations.

So they plan to take over a whole country and have set their collective eyes on Thulan, a small mountainous state in the Himalyas. Their agent, Kate Telman, is sent there to find out how to proceed best. Up to that moment her job had been to hunt for new technical developments, and how the Business should best make use of them. Traditionally speaking, she worked as an industrial spy.

Used to plush hotels and company cars, Kate first is very unhappy in these freezing cold Mongolia-like surroundings, but in the end she marries Suvinder, the Prince of Thulan, and they live happily ever after. How very moving!