Fay Weldon

"England, 1903. Lord Robert and Lady Isobel Dilberne and the entire grand estate, with its hundred rooms, are busy planning for a visit from Edward VII and Queen Alexandra just a few months a way. Preparations are elaborate and exhaustive: the menus and fashions must be just so, and so must James, the new heir and son of Arthur Dilberne and Chicago heiress, Minnie O'Brien. But there are problems. Little James is being reared to Lady Isobel's tastes,...

First-wave feminism takes front and center in this fearless novel, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, about women determined to succeed in a man's world-only to be foiled by their own ambition "A Woman Needs a Man Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle."   It's the 1970s, and the sexual revolution is just beginning. Four women have decided to open a feminist publishing house. Named in honor of the gorgon who turned men's hearts to stone, MedusaPublishing...

In the lull between Christmas and New Year's, ten high-achieving ladies are gathered at the expensive Castle Spa in Cumbria, England, seeking to rejuvenate themselves with Botox, aromatherapy, and all-around pampering. They lounge around in the Jacuzzi, sipping champagne and telling each other the stories of their lives-from a trophy wife's spell in a Greek prison to a brain surgeon's experience with twins and mistaken identity to a stepmother's reverse-Cinderella...

Fay Weldon's gripping novel asks the questions, Can a politician's life ever be private? And, Can the past ever stay buried? Isabel has a secret: Seven years ago, she had an affair and ended up pregnant. A few months later, she married Homer Rust, who has no idea that Jason isn't his son. Now, Isabel's former lover, a US senator poised for the presidential nomination, is threatening her contented family life and her career as a journalist.   Dandridge...

"From the award-winning novelist and writer of Upstairs Downstairs, the launch of a brilliant new trilogy about what life was really like for masters and servants before the world of Downton Abbey As the Season of 1899 comes to an end, the world is poised on the brink of profound, irrevocable change. The Earl of Dilberne is facing serious financial concerns. The ripple effects spread to everyone in the household: Lord Robert, who has gambled unwisely...

By 2013, capitalism has collapsed in Europe, and England has turned to protectionist policies, communal farms, and an intrusive National Unity Government that feeds its citizens National Meat Loaf and monitors people by street-corner CiviCams. In this bleak near-future, Frances Prideaux, once a successful writer of feminist novels and a proud product of the era of sexual liberation, is rehashing the sins of her past. As bailiffs try to repossess her...

"The Pilgrim's Progress (Part I 1678/Part II 1684) holds a unique place in the history of English literature. No other seventeenth-century work except the King James Bible, nothing from the pen of a writer of Bunyan's social class in any period, and no other Christian work, has enjoyed such an extensive readership." "The pilgrim Christian, Mr Worldly Wiseman, Giant Despair, Hopeful, and Ignorance are engaged in a powerful drama set against a solidly...