Samuel is a Foyle on his mother's side, and he's the grandson of William Foyle, co-founder of the London bookstore company that is now over 100 years old. The title of this book comes from the fact that Samuel never had an interest in being in the family business, not because he didn't love books, but because when he reached adulthood Foyles was being run by his Aunt Christina and they mutually loathed each other.
Samuel became an accountant, but if the term "adventurer accountant" has ever been used, it was to describe this man who worked in advertising in Nairobi, owned a construction company in Portugal and became the Director of Tourism for Turks and Caicos. His memoir of finally joining the board of Foyles and working in the family business, after Christina's death, is also part autobiography of his world travels.
But what a juicy business memoir. He truly disliked his aunt and really slings some mud about what he found as the board member, and accountant, who dove into the non-existent record keeping, billings, and fraud that had been Christina's system. He gives specifics as to how employees were able to defraud the business for years, and he discusses the years of poor customer service and bad treatment of the employees that was allowed to ruin the shop's reputation. He also discusses the steps that were taken to rectify these things, like finally bringing in computers, once the rest of the family was able to step in. ( )