She May Not Leave
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Review
'A witty, wicked, lethally elegant novel.' Daily Telegraph 'A new novel by Fay Weldon is always a reason to celebrate and this has all the ingredients that make her writing so addictive!Offering an enjoyably waspish commentary on the changing nature of childcare -- and of women's expectations -- since the 1960's, "She May Not Leave" is as funny and dark as anything that Weldon has written.' The Times 'Weldon is on top form in this latest novel, bringing to old dramas delicious new twists.' Daily Mail 'Weldon's style, that virtuoso of intelligence and insinuating garrulousness, achieves a kind of ideal equilibrium between therapy and gossip. It has all the irresistible allure of a really good bitch and the voluptuous resonance on a deeply self-indulgent bout of self-analysis.' Jane Shilling, The Times 'Gripping stuff ! Weldon is on fine form.' Observer 'Smart and fast-paced, the novel is an amusing cautionary tale with a twist.' Sunday Times 'Scathing sharp and genuinely thrilling, this is a fine novel!written with unnerving grace and style.' Daily Telegraph 'Weldon is as jaunty as ever.' The Observer 'Weldon, writing with customary intelligent relish, ditches a predictable twist to this coruscating cautionary tale.' Guardian
Review
‘A witty, wicked, lethally elegant novel.’ Daily Telegraph
‘A new novel by Fay Weldon is always a reason to celebrate and this has all the ingredients that make her writing so addictive…Offering an enjoyably waspish commentary on the changing nature of childcare – and of women’s expectations – since the 1960’s, “She May Not Leave” is as funny and dark as anything that Weldon has written.’ The Times
‘Weldon is on top form in this latest novel, bringing to old dramas delicious new twists.’ Daily Mail
‘Weldon’s style, that virtuoso of intelligence and insinuating garrulousness, achieves a kind of ideal equilibrium between therapy and gossip. It has all the irresistible allure of a really good bitch and the voluptuous resonance on a deeply self-indulgent bout of self-analysis.’ Jane Shilling, The Times
‘Gripping stuff … Weldon is on fine form.’ Observer
‘Smart and fast-paced, the novel is an amusing cautionary tale with a twist.’ Sunday Times
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wish she had left, this was boring as anything! I only continued reading it because it was for a book club and I wanted to try hard to complete it. The best bit happens in the last 15 pages but the blurb already tells you what's going to happen so you aren't even excited about getting there!
Hattie and Martyn aren't married, they are `partnered'. They have a little baby, called Kitty and are on the look out for an au pair so that Hattie can return to work. I think Fay Weldon was trying to get us to look at modern life and has taken it to an extreme, I don't know, it's my opinion. It would have been good if it had been a take on the way we live our lives but it wasn't well written enough for that. The story is narrated by Frances who is Hattie's grandmother. This is where a second story runs parallel, in that we live Frances' life as well.
The characters are boring, very selfish, snobbish people - maybe they were written that way intentionally. A predictable plot that mirrors the blurb, nothing is a surprise. We are given a look into both Hattie and Martyn's life - who they work with and why they are motivated to be the way they are (they simply want to be better than anyone else). We are also invited into Agnieszka's life (the au pair) as and when Hattie 'discovers' something about her.
I still don't understand why we were told everything as it happened. I got to the end not feeling like there was any spark that could make me recommend this book. I couldn't even picture what the characters would look like. Too much emphasis was placed on Hattie gaining weight etc as it was obvious why Agnieszka was 'fattening' her up - to move her out and get herself into the marital bed: this was explicit.
This is my first Fay Weldon novel and I have a feeling it may be my last. I do have a few others dotting around from charity buys but I think they may go unread now unless I'm persuaded otherwise. I really can't see the point to this novel. The sentences were quite blunt, which clearly reflected the selfishness and insecurities of the characters but made for disjointed reading. I begain to enjoy Frances' life story more with the details of her and Serena's (Frances' sister) number of husbands and wrong doings. I couldn't work out the family structure in great deal as they all aren't mentioned in enough detail.
Hattie and Martyn aren't married, they are `partnered'. They have a little baby, called Kitty and are on the look out for an au pair so that Hattie can return to work. I think Fay Weldon was trying to get us to look at modern life and has taken it to an extreme, I don't know, it's my opinion. It would have been good if it had been a take on the way we live our lives but it wasn't well written enough for that. The story is narrated by Frances who is Hattie's grandmother. This is where a second story runs parallel, in that we live Frances' life as well.
The characters are boring, very selfish, snobbish people - maybe they were written that way intentionally. A predictable plot that mirrors the blurb, nothing is a surprise. We are given a look into both Hattie and Martyn's life - who they work with and why they are motivated to be the way they are (they simply want to be better than anyone else). We are also invited into Agnieszka's life (the au pair) as and when Hattie 'discovers' something about her.
I still don't understand why we were told everything as it happened. I got to the end not feeling like there was any spark that could make me recommend this book. I couldn't even picture what the characters would look like. Too much emphasis was placed on Hattie gaining weight etc as it was obvious why Agnieszka was 'fattening' her up - to move her out and get herself into the marital bed: this was explicit.
This is my first Fay Weldon novel and I have a feeling it may be my last. I do have a few others dotting around from charity buys but I think they may go unread now unless I'm persuaded otherwise. I really can't see the point to this novel. The sentences were quite blunt, which clearly reflected the selfishness and insecurities of the characters but made for disjointed reading. I begain to enjoy Frances' life story more with the details of her and Serena's (Frances' sister) number of husbands and wrong doings. I couldn't work out the family structure in great deal as they all aren't mentioned in enough detail.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I loved this book - it's vintage Weldon, full of piercing insights into the way we live and the way we fool ourselves about our motives. The central theme is an issue for working parents all over the world: who will look after the children? How do you trust them - or maybe you should not trust them at all. Weldon has a very recognisable narrative voice, ironic and authoritative, and keeps up the suspense all the way through. And there is a final twist as to who wins the game. Highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There comes a time when you are tired of all this all knowingness. The smug cynical tone wears you down. It is like Fay Weldon is as bored with the obvious plot she is paid to tediously tell us. Perhaps after all there is just one Fay Weldon story, dressed it up in many frocks over the years - just lengthen the sleeves, nip in the waist. Her little bit of insight has to go a hell of a long way. I think you get the insight and go - so true and then???
Can she not take us somewhere else? But perhaps as she is the only one that tells this - so plainly, there will always be room. But at the end of the day is it not just dark Mills and Boon?
Can she not take us somewhere else? But perhaps as she is the only one that tells this - so plainly, there will always be room. But at the end of the day is it not just dark Mills and Boon?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
I couldn't put this book down, a real page turner
Hattie and Martyn, two middle-class, snobbish "partnered people" become parents to baby Kitty. Hattie finds the drudgery of housework and nappies too much and emplys au pair... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Camilla Macaulay
PLEASANT MEANDERING READ
For me this book never really got out of third gear. It promised much, but somehow all the story lines seemed to dribble into nothing. Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by bibliophile
Chick-lit for the loaded
Chick Lit for the loaded, this is a breezy, intelligent story of au-pair trouble in the high-maintenance end of the baby-market. Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
disappointing
I was struck at the start that it had none of the flow or depth that I'm used to in the books I read. I persevered,despite the characters being two-dimensional and uninteresting. Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2009 by Ms. L. Wright
Absorbing tale, a good holiday read.
You're getting two stories for the price of one here.
The three central characters are well-presented, with just enough detail to give a hint of what's to come and... Read more
The three central characters are well-presented, with just enough detail to give a hint of what's to come and... Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2006 by Mary Anne Hughes
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