The life and loves of a.., p.21
The Life and Loves of a She Devil,
p.21
Sometimes I let Bobbo sleep with me. Or I take my lovers in front of him. What agreeable turmoil that causes in the household! Even the dogs sulk. I cause Bobbo as much misery as he ever caused me, and more. I try not to, but somehow it is not a matter of male or female, after all; it never was, merely of power. I have all, and he has none. As I was, so he is now.
Good. Life is very pleasant. I sit up in bed in the morning and look out over the landscape. Some people say I’ve ruined it, with artificial copses and granite-fountained fish ponds and the rest, but I like it. Nature gets away with far too much. It needs controlling. I have many friends. I am very hospitable, and charming, and there’s always a nervy excitement at my parties. The food’s superb. There is smoked salmon and champagne for those who care for that kind of thing — I have rather more Eastern and exotic tastes myself.
I tried my hand at writing a novel, and sent it to Mary Fisher’s publishers. They wanted to buy it and publish it, but I wouldn’t let them. Enough to know I can do it, if I want. It was not so difficult after all; nor she so special.
I am a lady of six foot two, who had tucks taken in her legs. A comic turn, turned serious.
About the Author
Novelist, playwright, and screenwriter Fay Weldon was born in England, brought up in New Zealand, and returned to the United Kingdom when she was fifteen. She studied economics and psychology at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She worked briefly for the Foreign Office in London, then as a journalist, and then as an advertising copywriter. She later gave up her career in advertising, and began to write fulltime. 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 named a Commander of the British Empire.
Weldon’s work includes more than twenty novels, five collections of short stories, several children’s books, nonfiction books, magazine articles, and a number of plays written for television, radio, and the stage, including the pilot episode for the television series Upstairs Downstairs. She-Devil, the film adaption of her 1983 novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, starred Meryl Streep in a Golden Globe–winning role.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1983 by Fay Weldon
Cover design by Connie Gabbert
978-1-4804-1238-5
This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media
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Fay Weldon, The Life and Loves of a She Devil
