Inspired by a series of instructive letters written by Austen to a novel-writing niece, Letters to Alice is an epistolary novel in which an important modern writer responds to her niece's complaint that Jane Austen is boring and irrelevant. By turns passionate and ironic, "Aunt Fay" makes Alice think--not only about books and literature, but also life and culture.
Fay Weldon Book order (chronological)
September 22, 1931 – January 4, 2023
Fay Weldon is an English author, essayist, and playwright whose work has been associated with feminism. In her fiction, Weldon typically portrays contemporary women finding themselves trapped in oppressive situations often stemming from the patriarchal structure of British society. Her writing keenly dissects societal norms and explores the inner lives of characters striving for agency and freedom within restrictive environments. Through sharp wit and a satirical lens, Weldon exposes the hypocrisy and injustices faced by women.
'Elegantly written, sharply perceptive and fantastically good fun' Daily Mail .
Before the War
- 400 pages
- 14 hours of reading
From a lioness of British literature, an absorbing, inventive novel of love, death and aristocracy in inter-war London Consider Vivien in November 1922. She is twenty four, and a spinster. She wears fashionably droopy clothes, but she is plain and – worse – intelligent. At nearly six foot tall, she is known unkindly by her family as 'the giantess'. Fortunately, Vivien is rich, so she can travel to London and bribe a charismatic London publisher to marry her. What he does not know is that Vivien is pregnant with another's child, and will die in childbirth in just a few months. Fay Weldon, with one eye on the present and one on the past, offers Vivien's fate to the reader, along with that of London between the wars: a city soaked in drizzle, peopled with flat-chested flappers, shell-shocked servicemen and aristocrats desperately clinging onto the past. Inventive, witty and empathetic, this is a spellbinding historical novel from one of the foremost novelists of our time.
The second novel in Fay Weldon's Love and Inheritance trilogy, following the lives and loves of an aristocratic family at the turn of the nineteenth century.
The third and final instalment in Fay Weldon's Love & Inheritance trilogy sees the Dilbernes frantically preparing for a visit from the Royals.
Habits of the House
- 314 pages
- 11 hours of reading
A pitch-perfect story of life above and below stairs and an elegy to the last days of aristocracy and Empire.
Dopo il crash
- 304 pages
- 11 hours of reading
Nel cuore della notte, Frances sente bussare alla porta: sono i funzionari del nuovo governo, pronti a confiscare le sue proprietà. Un tempo scrittrice di successo, nel 2013 si ritrova povera, sola e anziana, confinata nella sua casa al numero 3 di Chalcot Crescent. Per fuggire dalla realtà, si rifugia nella scrittura, l'arte che le ha dato tutto. Così, ci offre un affresco storico arricchito da cronache quotidiane sulla sua numerosa e strampalata famiglia, narrando con ironia cinquant'anni di eventi cruciali come il crollo del comunismo e la nascita di un nuovo governo tirannico. Non mancano siparietti con il nipote tossico e rivoluzionario, gli amori della sua gioventù, l'astio di una figlia vetero femminista e le tribolazioni dell'altra, sposata a un politico di spicco. Man mano che Frances si immerge nel suo racconto, il confine tra realtà e fantasia diventa labile, alimentando dubbi e timori. Dove vanno a finire gli abitanti del quartiere quando il governo li "ricolloca"? E cosa contiene il Polpettone Nazionale, surrogato di carne per un'Inghilterra indigente? Surreale e intricato, il libro ci trascina in una danza della mente, lasciandoci con la sensazione di aver letto un'opera di grande originalità.
Deník macechy
- 230 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Jednoho dnes se Sapfo objeví přede dveřmi psychoanalytické ordinace, kde pracuje její matka, a rychle jí předá rukopis se slovy, že jde o její deníky. Populární anglická autorka tak začíná příběh ženy, kterou všichni odrazovali, aby se vdala za vdovce Gavina. Je pro ni moc starý, říkali jedni, jiní zase upozorňovali na možnost, že chlap si vyhlédnul jen její dům. A že prý jí jeho děti ze života udělají peklo. To je všechno možné, ale citům neporučíš.
Nackt lesen macht Laune. Für diese außergewöhnliche Sammlung erotischer Geschichten haben zwanzig bekannte britische Autorinnen alle Hüllen fallengelassen und beweisen, frau kann über Sex schreiben – und zwar humorvoll, unverkrampft und herrlich unterhaltsam. Das Ergebnis: zwanzig ganz besondere Gutenachtgeschichten für Erwachsene. Schlüpfen Sie unter die Laken – süße Träume sind garantiert! «Unverkrampft sexy.» (Glamour)
Als Phoebe Fox beim Friseur die Anzeige sieht, steht für sie fest: Weihnachten wird sie in dem vornehmen 'Castle Spa' verbringen, ganz ohne Familie. Die Frauen, auf die sie dort trifft, könnten verschiedener kaum sein. Eine Richterin, eine Verschwörungstheoretikerin, die Exfrau eines Pfarrers, eine Kosmetikerin und eine Psychoanalytikerin: Durch das extreme Wetter von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten, erzählen sie der Schriftstellerin am Whirlpool ihr Leben. Ihre bissig-ironischen Geschichten handeln von Triumph und Niederlage, von Eifersucht, sexuellen Eskapaden und Intrigen, ja sogar von Totschlag.
