A woman wins a fabulous lottery; a frustrated middle-age man waits for his wealthy father to die; an unemployed father and widower struggles to earn a living wage; an older man of means has an affair with a much younger woman; a privileged but harassed suburban woman and a homeless man meet in a subway station: each story, built upon familiar motifs, leads into the core of the characters' sense of who they are. The narrative drama arises from what they face and how they live during their present circumstances. For the readers, the stories transform the ordinary, which many have felt themselves, into a new dimension of experience. As a writer of short fiction whose very first collection The Cost of Living was nominated for the Governor General's Award, Radu evinces a sure voice and deft hand. Of his previous book Earthbound , also published by DC Books, a reviewer in The Fiddlehead states 'the variety is dazzling and somewhat daunting because Radu writes convincingly in all of these voices.' Anatanas Sileika confirms in The Toronto Star that Radu's earlier book of stories, A Private Performance, is a 'collection of sparkling gems.' Years of crafting the art of the short story has led to Radu's mastery of effect and style, not to mention an undercurrent of humour and wit, which enables him to handle emotionally charged and complex dramas. In the words of Prairie Fire reviewing Radu's collection Sex in Russia, 'displays the necessary empathy to reveal his protagonists'' natures, while his morally centered prose provides perspective.' Net Worth continues Radu's tradition of well-crafted and necessary stories.

Kenneth Radu is a seasoned, award-winning writer of novels, short stories, non-fiction, and poetry. His first novel, Distant Relations, received the Quebec Writers' Federation Award for Best English-language Fiction. A collection of stories, A Private Performance, was also honoured with the award. A previous collection, The Cost of Living, was nominated for the Governor General's Award. His most recent work includes two collections of stories, Sex in Russia, and Earthbound, both published by DC Books, as well as the novel Butterfly in Amber.

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'Several of the stories in Net Worth are very effective. The first one in the book, Lottery, is about a woman, Annie, who wins $42 million from Loto-Qubec. But she has reservations. What would it do to her life? Is all that money worth it? Radu gets into Annie's doubts and confusion very well, dissecting the virtues and pitfalls of sudden wealth, how it seeps into to every aspect of your life, your behaviour, your relationships. All the stories are thought-provoking and reflective, each in its own way, using money as a vehicle to explore such diverse subjects as a spouses early death, old age, leaving an inheritance, waiting for an inheritance, divorce, and coming early into the personal independence of adulthood. The varied meanings of having, keeping, and losing money come up frequently in each of these contexts. ....These stories are a wonderful exploration into what money does to us all.' The Ottawa Review of Books, September 2018