Family Business

by Anna Murdoch

Yarrow McLean rises to the top of a vast news Empire and becomes a key advisor in Elliot Weyden's decision to run for the presidency while facing a troubled marriage

Genres: Fiction

592 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1988

Reviews

[Paula Galvan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The family business in this book revolves around publishing newspapers. The story traces Yarrow McLean's ascent to the top of a vast media empire, starting with her grandfather, Jock, who founded the Galena Gazette in the small town of Galena, Colorado. After Jock, his son, James, took over the business, followed by his daughter, Yarrow.

The narrative details the advancements in the printing process, Yarrow's negotiations with unions, and her acquisitions of more prominent news outlets. Additionally, the book explores Yarrow's complicated love life with Elliot Weyden, a successful businessman trapped in an unfulfilling marriage to a wife who refuses to divorce him.

The story is rich in family drama, particularly highlighting the disappointment successful parents often feel when they struggle to control their children's ambitions or lack thereof. I found the book well-written, though it felt a bit lengthy. Printing enthusiasts may appreciate the in-depth details about newspaper production; however, I personally found some of it more tedious than engaging.

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took about 300 pages to get going.
Page numbers could have been reduced by cutting some of the technical info about printing a newspaper.
A family tree, or list of characters would have been useful as by the end I was forgetting who some of them were and where they fitted in the family

[Jane Tozer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by Rupert Murdoch's second wife, and mother of James, Lachlan and Elizabeth, this book has long enjoyed a kind of second life as a supposedly prophetic text, endlessly cited in profiles of Rupert Murdoch as if it foresaw the Murdoch family’s later internecine warfare. That reputation says more about the mythology that has grown up around the Murdochs than about the novel itself.

Read on its own terms, Family Business is far less uncanny. The alleged parallels are often overstated, either by commentators who haven’t actually read the book or by those happy to indulge in neat literary coincidences. What Murdoch offers instead is a relatively conventional, competently written exploration of power, money, and family dynamics, filtered through fiction rather than thinly veiled memoir.

That’s not a criticism so much as a recalibration of expectations. The novel is a decent, engaging read, particularly if you’re already fascinated by Rupert Murdoch (I am). It just isn’t earth-shattering, nor is it the eerie act of prediction it’s sometimes made out to be. Its real interest lies less in what it “got right” about the future, and more in what it reveals about how familiar these dynastic tensions are.