Books That Changed the World
4 total works
Weldon on top form; Weldon tackling love, sex, ageing, death; Weldon at her wittiest best; Weldon unparalleled. Sophia is a 34-year-old film editor living in Soho. Her only living relation (she thinks), her grandmother Felicity, is an 83-year-old widow (several times) living in smart Connecticut. Sophia is torn between her delight in her freedom and a nagging desire for the family ties which everyone else grumbles about: casual sex is all very well, but who do you spend Christmas with? Her current bed-mate seems to be in love with a glamorous Hollywood film star (not that Sophia cares, of course: she's a New Woman); her mad mother is dead. All she has is Felicity. But Felicity is not your average granny. Temperamental, sophisticated, chic (and alarmingly eccentric), she has seen much of life, love and sex and is totally prepared to see more. Even if it is from a twilight home (The Golden Bowl Complex for Creative Retirement)...Twilight is not at all Felicity's idea of fun; and quite possibly she has more idea of fun than her granddaughter.
As the two women's stories unravel, the past rears up with all its grimness and irony: but points the way to a future which may redeem them both.
As the two women's stories unravel, the past rears up with all its grimness and irony: but points the way to a future which may redeem them both.
This novel set in contemporary London in the glittery world of charity auctions, big business, and high art concerns a wealthy businessman married to a successful young woman, one artist and a portrait for sale, two women wearing Bulgari necklaces, a touch of the supernatural, and big dose of envy.
A wonderful new slice of the bizarre from Weldon. Trisha had been rich and Trisha had been poor, and she knew it was better to be rich. But, even worse, now she was to be stripped of her identity. She is to swap sex, and her very soul, with young, handsome, trendy Peter Watson. She passes him too close upon the stairs, and some might think what happens -- a first in mankind's history -- is an improvement and some might not. Peter's partner Doralee thinks not. Mantrapped is the continuing story of Fay Weldon, writer, mother, daughter, sister, cook, campaigner, juggler of life, time, work and money. Like Trisha she has been rich, and like Trisha she has been poor: like Trisha she has been well and truly man trapped, and -- unlike Trisha -- does not regret one bit. From 1960s London (wild parties, no money) to 1970s Somerset (animals, wild parties, no money) Weldon has lived a life rich in adventure and courage. The things you regret, as she points out, are what you don't do, not what you do.
In this vastly entertaining book she argues that in a world in which the writer can no longer hope to be anonymous, it is devious, and indeed dishonourable, to keep yourself out of your own novels. The reader, hoping for bread, should not be given stones.
In this vastly entertaining book she argues that in a world in which the writer can no longer hope to be anonymous, it is devious, and indeed dishonourable, to keep yourself out of your own novels. The reader, hoping for bread, should not be given stones.
A group of ten high-powered, accomplished ladies gathers at the expensive Castle Spa, seeking to rejuvenate themselves--through Botox, aromatherapy, and general pampering--and telling one another the stories of their lives.