Book description
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.' 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. She 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. 'Spans the spectrum of family
relationships ... profound, alarming, funny and wise ... Weldon is
writing at the top of her game' Daily Telegraph. 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. She 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.
