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Fay Weldon Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

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Fay Weldon
Photo: Ian Jones

Fay Weldon

Fay Weldon Biography

English novelist and writer Weldon Fay, was born on 22nd September 1939 in Birmingham, UK. Her work tends to have strong feminist themes. Her grandfather, Edgar Jepson and her mother, Margaret were both writers. She studied at university in Scotland and returned to England after giving birth to a son. After afterwards she married Ronald Bateman who she left after two years of marriage. In order to support her son Weldon started working in advertising industry.

She later married Ron Weldon, and during her second pregnancy she began to write for radio and television. In 1967 she published her first novel, The Fat Woman's Joke, after that the next 30 years turned out to be very successful for her. She published over 20 novels, collections of short stories, films for television, newspaper and magazine articles. She also wrote the first episode of the landmark TV series "Upstairs, Downstairs", for which she won a Writer's Guild award for Best British TV Series Script.

Ron Weldon and Fay were divorced in the year 1994. She then married Nick Fox who was also her manager. In 2006 Weldon was appointed Professor for Creative writing at Brunel University in West London. Then later in 2012, she was appointed as a Creative Writing professor as Bath Spa University. She died in January 2023, aged 91.


Partial Bibliography
  • The Fat Woman's Joke (1967)
  • Down Among the Women (1971)
  • Female Friends (1975)
  • Remember Me (1976)
  • Little Sisters (1977)
  • Weekend (1978)
  • Praxis (1978)
  • Puffball (1980)
  • The President's Child (1982)
  • The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1983)
  • Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen (1984)
  • The Shrapnel Academy (1986)
  • The Rules of Life (1987)
  • The Heart of the Country (1987)
  • The Hearts and Lives of Men (1987)
  • Leader of the Band (1988)
  • The Cloning of Joanna May (1989)
  • Darcy's Utopia (1990)
  • Trouble (1993)
  • Affliction (1994)
  • Growing Rich (1992)
  • Life Force (1992)
  • Splitting (1995)
  • Worst Fears (1996)
  • Big Women (1997)
  • My Mother Said (1998)
  • Godless in Eden (1999)
  • Rhode Island Blues (2000)
  • The Bulgari Connection (2001)
  • Mantrapped (2004)
  • She May Not Leave (2006)
  • What Makes Women Happy (2006)
  • The Spa Decameron (2007)
  • The Stepmother's Diary (2008)
  • Chalcot Crescent (2009)
  • Kehua! (2010)
  • Habits of the House (2012)
  • Long Live the King (2013)
  • The New Countess (2013)
  • Mischief (2015)

Fay Weldon's website

This bio was last updated on 01/06/2023. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

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Books by this Author

Books by Fay Weldon at BookBrowse
Before the War jacket Habits of the House jacket Chalcot Crescent jacket What Makes Women Happy jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Fay Weldon but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Jo Baker

    Jo Baker

    Jo Baker was born in Lancashire and educated in Oxford and Belfast. The Undertow is her first publication in the United States. She is the author of three previous novels published in the United Kingdom: Offcomer, The Mermaid... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Habits of the House

    Try:
    Longbourn
    by Jo Baker

  • Cheryl Benard

    Cheryl Benard

    Dr. Cheryl Benard has worked as an analyst for European and American think tanks. She is a researcher with the RAND Corporation. She received her B.A. in political science from the American University of Beirut and her PhD ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Big Girls Don't Cry

    Try:
    Turning On The Girls
    by Cheryl Benard

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