RESULTS

This is a study of the shifting inter-relationships between three young couples, following the developments with sympathy and a certain ironic humour, through a span of 25 years. The 'Action Replay' technique of television sporting coverage is here used to present the characters in different lights and situations by repeating the action, sometimes in quite brief scenes, with subtle and often radical differences, in order to examine a vast part of the male/female relationship.

From the 1930s to the 1990s, Fay Weldon has seen and lived our times. As a child in New Zealand, as young and poor in London, as unmarried mother, as wife, lover, playwright, novelist, feminist, anti-feminist, spag-bol-cook, winer-and-diner, there are few waterfronts that she hasn't covered, few battles she hasn't fought. An icon to many, a thorn-in-the-flesh to others, she has never failed to excite, madden, or interest. Her life and times cover love, sex, babies, blokes, poverty, work, politics, and Very Famous Names. Moving from New Zealand to London to Scotland, from the UK to points east and west, Weldon has sipped, gulped, and sometimes spat out the things that make us what we are today. This is her autobiography.

Men have deserted women often, and perhaps Natalie Harris, whose husband ran off with the local carnival queen, should not have been surprised. But there she was - charming, well-meaning, and well-dressed - suddenly without gas to drive her children to school or money to pay their tuition.

True. Natalie had had a lover for a number of years, but they saw each other only on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Still, she felt wronged and helpless when her husband left her; she was the kind of woman other men, attached to other women, liked to help - on their own terms, of course.

The Heart of the Country is about the decidedly unsentimental education of Natalie Harris. Without husband, without home, thrown on the mercy of bank managers and welfare officers, she depends for enlightenment upon long-suffering Sonia who has been abandoned before. But what can Sonia do in the face of Natalie's own nature and the procession of men only too ready to take advantage of her appealing vulnerability?

A cunning satirist, Fay Weldon tickles the myth of the suburban countryside as a place where serenity reigns and neighbors are kindhearted. But if the heart of the country is in upheaval, chaos can be exhilarating. And as Weldon exposes the foibles of the human spirit, she manages to celebrate its wonderful elasticity. Involuntary though it may be, Natalie Harris's education is not all to her disadvantage.

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.

Hattie has a difficult loving partner, Martyn, an absentee mother, Lallie, and a cynical attentive grandmother Frances. She tries to do the right and moral thing in a tricky world, and always has. But she now has a baby, Kitty, which makes true morality rather harder to achieve. Somehow, money has to be earned. Into this household comes Agnieszka, from Poland, a domestic paragon. But is she friend or foe? And even if she is foe, and seems likely to bring the domestic world crashing down around their ears, can they afford to let her go? Well, no. Martyn works for a political magazine, Hattie for a literary agency. At work, too, integrity is suffering as the need for compromise becomes ever more pressing. And always in the background is Frances, tracing the family and social history: and not just family and society but the dwelling houses too; and all those girls and women (the au pairs, the child-minders, the cleaners) who've made Hattie what she is.

The wicked stepmother is a classic figure of literature. From "Cinderella" to "Hamlet", she is portrayed as an evil manipulator out to do down her husband's children. Reality is all too often the reverse, with stepchildren using all their cunning to do down daddy's new wife in a no holds barred, down and dirty fight to the death. Being on the receiving end of that kind of attack is no fun at all, as Fay's heroine can tell you. And tell you she does in her only solace - her secret diary that is her lifeline. Fay's unique insights into the workings of the female mind, her comprehensive knowledge of family relationships and her wisdom about life in general are all brought brilliantly to bear in this fairytale for our times.

With her inimitable wit and insight, Fay Weldon offers her wisdom on the subject of female happiness and how to achieve it. What makes women happy? Nothing, for more than ten minutes at a time, so stop worrying. In this new book, Fay Weldon offers wisdom gleaned from a remarkable life, a brilliantly successful career and a fair share of trouble. She explores what makes women happy; how our lives, jobs, families, bodies, desires, morals and responsibilities affect that happiness, and what we can do to lead more rounded and desirable lives. As she delivers the verdicts, she also delivers short stories, or perhaps parables, to prove her points. To be good, she concludes, is to be happy, to be happy is to be good. The Victorians had it right. A blend of philosophy, storytelling and self-help, this inspirational work shows Weldon at the peak of her creative powers, as brisk, stylish and entertaining as ever.