A major Channel 4 tie-in, this is the story of women when they were wimmin: of that blossoming in seventies England of hope, freedom, equality and sisterhood; and of what happened next! Big Women is the tale of Medusa, a feminist publishing house founded one balmy evening at sedate Chalcot Crescent in a flurry of argument, peace-making and naked dancing. The novel is everything and more we expect from Fay Weldon, not just a work of literature but an energising drop into the pool of social complacency -- a feisty, no-holds-barred portrait of four women's attempts and failures to create a new life. There's Layla, noisy, darlingish, high-profile. Alice, the academic, the philosopher, the -- eventually -- Glastonbury witch. Nancy: boring, sensible Nancy, the only one with any business nous. And Stephanie, the one who leaves her husband and children to embrace politics, men, other women! Their stories are intertwined with twenty years of all our lives -- blissful, rage-filled, treacherous, redemptive.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
'Packed with incident, and issues ranging from Greenham Common to wife abuse ... As a novel, Big Women is tremendously entertaining. 'The story of these ebullient female egomaniacs trying to change the world because it is too difficult to change themselves has an endearing sadness about it too' - Carmen Callil, Daily Telegraph
'Delightfully told . .. Weldon can still serve up glittery little ironies' - The Sunday Times
About the Author
Fay Weldon was born in England and raised in New Zealand. Her work is translated into most world languages.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yes - that's the way they were and the way we are now,
By "stinegade" (Copenhagen, DK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Big Women (Paperback)
Mainly, I took the book out from the shelf on the library because it was in paperback and I did not want to carry some heavy hardback book along. The cover made me curious as well. Something that had been filmed could not be all that bad.Although I've already read several of Ms. Weldon's books, this one was new to me. I find that some of her books that I've read pass above my horizon and only belong to the generation of my mother's. Well, I was in for a surprise. Starting up in London in the early 70's: See Stephanie and Layla on their way home from putting up posters reading "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle", and incidentially bump into Nancy (or rather her boyfriend Brian) who is really only visiting London. However, they part again - at least for the time being. At a rather chaotic gathering in Stephanie's house the same evening, a publishing firm, Medusa, is founded. Meanwhile, Stephanie's husband Hamish is upstairs having sex with a not so political correct sister, Daffy. Joining the meeting as well is Zoe with her baby daughter Saffron, and Alice who is some kind of guru for the group. The meeting ends with a lot of pot and naked dancing, during which Zoe's husband Bull comes along in order to drag Zoe back to the kitchen where she belongs according to him. Stephanie rushes out of the front door - still naked - as a result of Hamish's physical exercises upstairs, leaving behind her boys Rafe and Roland. From that moment we follow the fate of the group of women (wimmin) during the next 25 years. This book is extremely successful in describing the climate of the 70's, Scandinavia not being very different from the UK in that respect. It gives an equally accurate description of the yuppies' society of my own time. And does so without condemning either generation. What is more, the book is really hilariously funny.
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