Novel Layoffs Blows the Lid Off Corporate Downsizing

Today PublishAmerica (Frederick, MD) released the new title Layoffs, a fast-paced novel that recounts the down side of downsizing." With thousands being laid off every day, this is a topic of considerable interest to the public, and people who have been laid off will recognize their own situations as the story unfolds. Layoffs, however, adds a new twist--that a layoff can lead to a better life.

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) February 21, 2005 -- Set in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, Layoffs tells the story of three people--a graphic designer, a computer instructor, and a middle manager--who report to work as usual one Monday morning only to find that they are caught in a layoff. In five minutes, Amber, a 33-year-old single parent, Tom, a 32-year-old harassed father of two, and Leigh, a 38-year-old career woman, lose not only their livelihood, but in the workaholic world of Washington, their very identities.

Leigh, the manager, finds that the assumptions on which she has based her entire career have been swept away; Tom, a born teacher, finds himself torn by the struggle to support his family on his own terms rather than those of the marketplace, and Amber, an artistic alien in a world of techies, eventually thinks of a way to survive in the technology-oriented marketplace without compromising her particular values.

Layoffs tells how these characters--each different, each compelling--work through the conflicts of finding new jobs and new identities in the marketplace of the late 1980s, when the world of work changed faster than the myths surrounding it. As topical as todays headlines, Layoffs recounts the struggles, the setbacks, and the eventual triumphs of the three main characters.

Read the first chapter of Layoffs and author bio at http://www.layoffsbook.com/

Layoffs will be available from www.PublishAmerica.com, Amazon.com, and BarnesandNoble.com on February 21, 2005.

About the Author:
D.M. Read is a writer and editor whose current writing projects include a novel about a Roman soldier stationed at Hadrians Wall and a book of short stories for young adults.

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