DIVSuburban complacency and marital infidelity get their comeuppance in this black comedy by Fay Weldon /divDIV When Natalie’s husband, Harry, kisses her and their two children goodbye, departs for the office, and never returns, Natalie immediately blames herself. If she hadn’t been cheating on her husband every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, he never would have left her for his secretary, a local beauty queen./divDIV /divDIVLeft penniless, without a husband, and eventually without a home, Natalie finds herself navigating the heartless, winding pathways of the state welfare system. There, she meets Sonia, who offers to shelter Natalie and her children. But Sonia has her own agenda, and her monstrous scheme culminates at the town’s annual carnival, where she will take revenge on both men and women alike./divDIV Narrated from a mental institution by the seething Sonia, The Heart of the Country is a lusty, high-spirited, ultimately cautionary tale about the wages of sin and the pleasures of adultery, which always demand a price./div
The basis for the movie She-Devil starring Meryl Streep: “A novel of blazingly hot revenge . . . Heaven [has] no rage like love turned to hate” (New York Magazine). Ruth loves her husband, Bobbo, a handsome, successful accountant. But Bobbo has fallen in love with Mary Fisher, a bestselling romance novelist who lives in a high tower overlooking the sea, pampered by her young, virile manservant. Mary is petite, dainty, and lovely. He tells Ruth about his affair and when Ruth reacts badly, he promptly moves out. In turn, Ruth decides to orchestrate a fiendish and masterful revenge. The Life and Loves of a She Devil is a masterpiece about love, hate, infidelity, corrosive envy, and the best kind of revenge.
Margaret Fay Shaw's life spans a century of change. Orphaned at 11 she left home and school in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia aged 16, crossing to Scotland to spend a year at school near Glasgow. It was there that her love for Scotland was born. After studying music in New York and Paris, she returned to live for six years with two sisters in South Uist. Life on the island had changed little from previous centuries, and material comforts were few. But the island was rich in music and tradition, and Margaret Fay Shaw's collection of Gaelic lore and song are amongst the most important made this century, whilst her photography evocatively captures the aura of a vanished world. Her autobiography is the remarkable testament of a remarkable woman as well as a powerful plea in defence of a Gaelic culture and world under threat. It is written with a sharpness of observation, directness of humour and zest for life which make it a marvellous record of the twentieth century.
A New York Times Notable Book: The “wise and haunting” memoir from one of England’s most witty and beloved writers is “from first to last a wonder” (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post). From life as a poor unwed mother in London to becoming one of England’s bestselling authors, Fay Weldon has crammed more than most into her years. Wife, lover, playwright, novelist, feminist, antifeminist, winer and diner—Fay leads us through her peripatetic life with barely a role she can’t illuminate. Born Franklin Birkinshaw in 1931, Fay spent most of her youth in New Zealand. With her glamorous father, a philandering doctor, generally absent, Fay’s intrepid mother and bohemian grandmother raised her along with her sister, Jane. Brought up among women, Fay found men a mystery until the swinging sixties in London where she became a central figure in the literary scene. She scraped along penning winning advertising slogans before she began to write fiction. As this memoir comes to a close, we witness the stirring of her first novel. Riddled with Weldon’s fierce opinions, as well as her “stinging wit, jaunty prose, memorable bon mots,” this frank and absorbing memoir is vintage Fay. An icon to many, a thorn in the flesh to others, she has never failed to excite, madden, or interest. And now she has finally turned her authorial wit and keen eye on . . . herself (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
Three novels from the “prolific and provocative” British satirist: from the joy of inspiration to the shock of betrayal and the pleasure of vengeance (Time Out). Perhaps best known for her “small, mad masterpiece,” The Life and Loves of a She Devil, Man Booker Prize nominee Fay Weldon has been writing some of the boldest, funniest satirical novels for over half a century (The Washington Post Book World). In her mid-eighties, she’s penned a scathing sequel, The Death of a She Devil, “a brilliant black comedy” (The Mail on Sunday). The three volumes collected here—from an epistolary novel inspired by Jane Austen to a widow’s discovery of her husband’s betrayal and a tale of abandonment that twists into comeuppance—all prove Weldon’s wit and insights into the human condition to be as sharp as ever. Letters to Alice: With the dire warning, “You must read, Alice, before it’s too late,” Aunt Fay implores her niece to immerse herself in the works of enduring authors. Taking its inspiration from Jane Austen’s relationship with her niece, Weldon’s epistolary novel explores the literary life, as lived by both Austen and eighteen-year-old Alice, as she struggles with her own writing, school, parents, romance, ambition, and spiky green hair. “Wise, sharp, informative . . . shrewd and funny.” —The Times Literary Supplement Worst Fears A New York Times Notable Book A darling of the London theater world, Alexandra Ludd is playing Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House when her husband, Ned, former theater critic and stay-at-home father to their young son, Sascha, dies of an apparent heart attack. But when Alexandra returns to their country home, her grief begins to give way to suspicion. Ned didn’t keel over in the dining room, as her good friends told her. He died in their bed—and he wasn’t alone. What’s a widow to do? “This splendid and spiteful novel shows Fay Weldon to be in as fine form as ever.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer The Heart of the Country: When her husband kisses her and their children goodbye, departs for the office, and never returns, Natalie blames herself. Perhaps if she hadn’t been cheating on him every Tuesday and Thursday, he wouldn’t have left her for his secretary, a local beauty queen. Penniless and soon homeless, Natalie finds herself navigating the heartless labyrinth of the state welfare system. There, she meets Sonia, who offers to shelter Natalie and her children. But Sonia has her own agenda (hint: she’s narrating from a mental institution) that will culminate in a monstrous act of vengeance at the town’s carnival. “Galloping, good, mean fun.” —Kirkus Reviews
Witnesses to War is a landmark history of Australian war journalism covering the regional conflicts of the nineteenth century to the major conflicts of the twentieth: World War I, World War II, Vietnam and Bosnia through to recent and ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fay Anderson and Richard Trembath look at how journalists reported the horrors and politics of war, the rise of the celebrity journalist, issues of censorship and the ethics of 'embedding'. Interviews with over 40 leading journalists and photographers reveal the challenges of covering wars and the impact of the violence they witness, the fear and exhilaration, the regrets and successes, the private costs and personal dangers. Witnesses to War examines issues with continued and contemporary relevance, including the genesis of the Anzac ideal and its continued use; the representation of enemy and race and how technology has changed the nature of conflict reporting.
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Wicked Women brings together twenty tales that lay bare the minds and hearts of men, women, and children Victims, liberators, blackmailers, healers, and ghosts—they’re just a few of the fascinating men and women you’ll meet in this stellar, boundary-defying anthology. From a heartless lover to a therapist who’s exposed for being a child hater, Weldon’s characters search for meaning, betray their vows, take pleasure in others’ misfortunes, or get pushed out of the family manse by their grasping offspring. Whether she’s depicting a child’s reaction to the chaotic lives of her parents, or envisioning a terrifying futuristic society, Fay Weldon wields her prolific pen like a sword. In a pre-apocalyptic world where nothing is sacred, Wicked Women reveals the infinite ability of men and women to wound, to grieve, and to love.
Max Crawford was one of Australia's pre-eminent historians. As both a participant in and observer of many decisive episodes of the era; Europe in the midst of the Depression, America and Russia at the height of World War II, post-war reconstruction and the Cold War in Australia, Crawford was regarded as a radicalandsbquo; and outspoken defender of intellectual autonomy. This biography considers Crawford as an historian and a public intellectual. It relates his experiences as a student at Sydney and Oxford, a struggling teacher during the Depression, as the head of the History School at the University of Melbourne, a diplomat in wartime Russia, and a Cold War victim and accuser. The study of Crawford's life provides insight into one man's experience in the midst of political turmoil and the limits of intellectual autonomy on Australian campuses, as well as the suspicion of liberal intellectuals in Australian public life, the repression of academic radicals and ASIO's attempts to stifle dissident voices. Spanning his life (1906 -1991), Crawford's political and intellectual journey suggests the changing nature of Australian progressive liberalism and the precarious state of academic freedom.
With wicked wit and savage glee, British novelist Fay Weldon “breaks taboos like tape at a marathon” (Los Angeles Times). Perhaps best known for her “small, mad masterpiece,” The Life and Loves of a She Devil, Man Booker Prize nominee Fay Weldon has been writing some of the boldest, funniest satirical novels for over half a century (The Washington Post Book World). In her mid-eighties, she’s penned a scathing sequel, The Death of a She Devil, “a brilliant black comedy” (The Mail on Sunday). Weldon’s take-no-prisoners milieu is often the war between the sexes; she “[points] up the mad underside of our sexual politics with a venomous accuracy for which wit is far too mild a word” (The New York Times Book Review). The Life and Loves of a She Devil A New York Times Notable Book “With infectious, wicked glee,” Weldon tells the story of Ruth, whose husband, Bobbo, has fallen in love with Mary Fisher, a bestselling romance novelist who lives in a high tower overlooking the sea (Chicago Tribune). Mary is petite, dainty, and lovely. Ruth is not. When Bobbo moves out, Ruth decides to orchestrate an elaborate and masterful revenge. Weldon’s “powerfully funny and oddly powerful” novel was made into a film with Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr (The Washington Post Book World). “A scintillating, mind-boggling, vicarious thrill for any reader who has ever fantasized dishing out retribution for one wrong or another.” —The New York Times Book Review The Hearts and Lives of Men: In Weldon’s “imaginative work of Dickensian scope” set in 1960s London, Clifford Wexford and Helen Lally meet at a party and fall passionately in love (Los Angeles Times). But their baby, Nell, isn’t even a year old when their marriage unravels. Divorce quickly follows, and so begins a battle for Nell’s care and affection. Helen remarries; Clifford has affairs—and something quite remarkable happens to little Nell, as an ill-conceived kidnapping plot sets her on a series of picaresque adventures in this modern-day fairy tale. “Wry, gutsy and loaded with fun.” —The New York Times Praxis Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize Praxis Duveen is a survivor. At five years old, in 1920s England, she is still innocent, the product of an unstable mother and a father who abandoned her and Hypatia, her half-crazy sister. As the decades fly by, Praxis experiences many incarnations, from prostitute to rape victim, wife to adulteress, and eventually becomes the accidental leader of an international women’s movement. Now, from her dingy basement apartment where she’s attempting to write a memoir, Praxis recounts her remarkable journey—peppered with more than a few detours along the way. “Weldon’s most directly feminist novel . . . A narrative that convinces, horrifies, and entertains.” —Library Journal
Christmas in Australia long ago, with the family reunited to enjoy the festive season, and the father giving his youngest child a gift she will never forget.
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