The Stepmother's Diary [Hardcover]

Weldon's style, that virtuoso of intelligence and insinuating garrulousness, achieves a kind of ideal equilibrium between therapy and gossip - The Times

Her prose, never flabby, grows leaner with each book. It's impressive what she achieves with so few words - The Independent

The novel spans the spectrum of family relationships; it is profound, alarming, funny and wise … Fay Weldon is writing at the top of her game: her novel is highly recommended - Daily Telegraph

… a blistering look at the battle between a woman and her stepdaughter… A fiendish modern morality tale - the old Cassandra is back in superb form - Kate Saunders in The Times.

...wry, witty take on a duplicitous world, in which unexpected quirks are adapted to the female experience - Saga Magazine.

A heartfelt story, full of ups and downs - Scottish Daily Record.

Her prose, never flabby, grows leaner with each book. It's impressive what she achieves with so few words

...spans the spectrum of family relationships...profound alarming, funny and wise...Fay Weldon is writing at the top of her game...highly recommended

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.

“I read my daughter's diaries the other day. Let me share with you. You may think you know pretty much what's going on in your own family. Believe me, you do not. You think truly dreadful things only happen in other countries, other cultures, far away: but they also happen in your own back yard, to the nicest people.” Sappho was so happy when she married Gavin. She was in love and it seemed that at last everything was falling into place. But she hadn't considered his daughter, Isobel. Isobel is a delightful, charming girl who spends her school holidays caring for the elderly and is the apple of Gavin's eye. Now cast in the role of Wicked Stepmother, Sappho tries all she can to befriend Isobel and find her place in the new family. It's not easy, but no one had promised it would be. Sappho perseveres. But she has a history, and the history works against her. When it becomes clear that, contrary to popular belief, it is Isobel who steals Gavin's love and attention, and Sappho who must fight for his affection, Sappho is at a loss. How can she win her husband back? With warmth, wit and her unique insights into the workings of the female mind, Fay Weldon has written a brilliant, unsettling new novel about family life today.

“Weldon's writing is seductively readable” Times Literary Supplement “Effortlessly fluid … immensely entertaining” The Times “Never one for obvious didacticism in her fiction, Weldon raises more questions about contemporary sexual politics … [she] remains provokingly complicated and eminently readable” Financial Times “Weldon's women are, as ever, enjoyably cutting about each other's figures, hair and clothes” Daily Telegraph “Weldon is sharp; she writes with precision and acuity … very cunning writing” Spectator “Weldon … produces sparkling dialogue suffused with wit and mischief” Glasgow Herald “[She] has a wicked sense of humour, a brilliant ear for dialogue and a super-charged imagination” Daily Mail

Fay Weldon was brought up in New Zealand. She read Economics and Psychology at the University of St Andrews, and worked briefly for the Foreign Office in London. She later began to write full-time, working as a novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Her first novel, The Fat Woman's Joke, was published in 1967. She was Chair of the Judges for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1983, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews in 1990. In 2001 she was awarded a CBE. She lives in Dorset with her husband, the poet Nick Fox.