Set in New York City in the mid-1920s, The Trade Off is a historical novel about a plucky, proud immigrant Jewish woman named Bea Abramovitz. The book tells the story of Bea’s passions and brilliance, and her determination to make her way in what is perhaps the most male-dominated milieu of her time: Wall Street.
Bea’s parents, Lew and Pauline, were successful back in Odessa, but they have worked hard just to hold onto a lower economic rung in America. Lew is a produce peddler, and Pauline, who refuses to learn English, cannot let go of the disappointment of having lost her aristocratic life in the old country — where she was a member, as she often reminds her family, of the House of Oppenheim. In contrast to Bea’s discipline and smarts, her twin brother, Jake, has gotten by on charm and Bea’s own willingness to help him. This backdrop of struggling immigrants, of strivers and dreamers, forms the foundation of The Trade Off, which paints a portrait of women finding their way in a man’s world. Through a college professor, Bea manages to get herself an interview with a prominent woman in the ladies’ office of the House of Morgan. But Bea quickly learns that her smarts are of no real use when it’s charm and social connections (and not being Jewish) that really open doors.
Although she manages to prove herself “on the wire” in the basement of the firm, she still dreams of being a broker. Her brother, meanwhile, drops out of school to pursue a sounds-too-good-to-be-true opportunity selling oil wells in California. As far as his family can tell, business is booming, and Jake is the great success he’d always dreamed of being.
But then he returns a broken man, having lost it all in a Ponzi scheme his sister tried to warn him away from. Not long after his return, he cleans himself up, starts working with his father, and somehow catches the attention of one of Bea’s socialite friends from the bank, Henrietta (Henny) Brodsky, the daughter of a wealthy department store family. Bea, for her part, has caught the eye of Henny’s cousin Nate, a broker at a rival Wall Street Bank.
We aren’t given a deep dive into characters’ motivations, except perhaps for Bea’s, which are clear and present throughout the novel. However, the author shows us the broader push and pull of a family striving in a new country. This is a novel in which young immigrants attempt to gain a toehold or more on the ladder of success, all while trying to be faithful sons and daughters to parents navigating their own, more bittersweet challenges.
It’s notable how a book about extreme wealth, and the day-to-day struggle of the impoverished in New York City in the late 1920s, could just as easily take place today. The backgrounds of the characters might be different, but their dreams, setbacks, and ethical quandaries are all quite familiar — as are their fears about having and potentially losing everything.
Nina Mogilnik left a long career in philanthropy, non-profit, and government work to focus on family, on causes dear to her, and on her own writing, which she publishes on Medium, at the Blogs of the Times of Israel, and elsewhere.
