I second the recommendation for the Christina Gandolfo book, The Woman Triathlete. It covers all basics of triathlon from equipment to training cycle, and also has plans for every major race distance from Sprint to IM. The Sprint and Olympic plans have beginner and advanced versions.

Lots of inspirational stories from pro women triathletes too.

I lent my copy to a good friend when we were training for IM AZ, and she used it so much she gave me a coupon to Amazon.com to replace it!

Going Long is my favorite tri book b/c I am in the IM phase now. It is awesome but definitely not for a beginner and the workout durations will be intimidating for someone not training for IM.

I like Joe Friel's Triathlon Bible but it is an intimidating book, in my opinion.

Best of luck,
Laura