Against all odds, Rosa Guerrero became a high-ranking executive. By wielding power with grace and compassion, the longtime chief of human resources at Ellery Consumer Research has earned the devotion and loyalty of her senior staff.

With the economy in the tank and unemployment on the rise, Ellery’sfuture looks grim. While Rosa fights to insulate her people from the harsh realities of business, they’re facing crises of their own. Unlike Leo Smalls, who has no life outside of Ellery (or Rosa), Rob Hirsch’s existential dread pushes him closer to his “work wife,” Lucy Bender—a brainy, ambitious VP who is desperate to find meaning in her life. For Kenny Verville, a Wharton MBA, Ellery is a temporary stepping-stone to better things—that is, if he can get out of his own way.

Day after day, Leo, Rob, Lucy, and Kenny scheme and dream, fall in and out of love, and chase ideas big and small. But when Rosa begins to unravel, they find themselves changed in ways beyond their reckoning.

Authentic, razor-sharp, and achingly funny, This Could Hurt is a masterful novel about work, loneliness, love, and loyalty; about sudden reversals and unexpected windfalls; a novel about life.