A Lady's Guide to Selling Out follows Casey Pendergast, the novel's main character and protagonist. Casey is an incredibly intelligent and ambitious person who wants to live a good and fulfilling life. Casey works at an advertising agency but has aspirations of becoming an author. However, as the novel progresses, Casey begins to consider whether it is important for her to follow her dream of becoming an author or continue to be financially stable and professionally successful.
As she wrestles with that question, the novel portrays Casey's internal conflicts and the external pressures she faces from the people around her in intricate detail. She becomes adept at matching corporations with authors for campaigns that blur the lines between art and advertising, but the success she finds at her day job comes with a tremendous cost. In this, the story highlights the ethical implications of Casey's role. This is exemplified when Casey works on a campaign that she doesn't personally believe in, which leads to a public backlash. Will this be the end of her career in advertising? Will she finally do what she loves and believes in? In the end, she confronts the consequences of her actions and determines that she has made the wrong choice.
Through Casey's interactions and internal dialogue, the novel paints a vivid picture of the various personalities and ethical dilemmas present in the corporate and creative worlds, which often lead to drastic and oftentimes significant consequences. The relationships Casey forges with her coworkers and other people around her are crucial to her journey. They help her discover what it means to lead a fulfilling life. This is especially true with a reclusive author Casey forges a relationship with; the author's integrity makes Casey realize that she has made too many compromises. After all, staying true to oneself and following your passions (no matter what) is what is most important in a person's life.
In the end, Franson's novel is simultaneously a novel about finding and redeeming oneself and a critique of the corporate world and the things it does to a person. Ultimately, Franson's narrative suggests that while navigating the demands of the modern workplace, one's values and artistic integrity should never be compromised for success.
