Chalcot Crescent - Softcover

Weldon, Fay

3.27

377 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1933372796 ISBN 13: 9781933372792

Publisher: Europa Editions, 2010

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By 2013, capitalism has collapsed in Europe, and England has turned to protectionist policies, communal farms, and an intrusive National Unity Government that feeds its citizens National Meat Loaf and monitors people by street-corner CiviCams. In this bleak near-future, Frances Prideaux, once a successful writer of feminist novels and a proud product of the era of sexual liberation, is rehashing the sins of her past. As bailiffs try to repossess her house, Frances tells the story of her life--how she married her sister's boyfriend; rejected her stepson Henry, the revolution's creepily austere leader; and squandered her fortune and influence--and tries to keep tabs on her grandson, Amos, who is busy plotting against the government with his cohorts from Redpeace.

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About the Author:

Fay Weldon was raised in a household of women in New Zealand, and produced four sons of her own, as if to balance the gender count. After taking degrees in economics and psychology at the University of Edinburgh, she survived a decade of odd jobs and hard times, then began writing film and television scripts and fiction. Among her eighteen novels and short-story collections are Trouble, Life Force, The Cloning of Joanna May, Darcy's Utopia, The Shrapnel Academy, The Life and Loves of a She-devil, Leader of the Band, Puffball, and The Heart of the Country, winner of the 1989 Los Angeles Times Fiction Award. Fay Weldon lives in London and Somerset.

From Booklist:

Weldon’s twenty-ninth novel creates a history for her real-life stillborn sister, calling her Frances and placing her in 2013 London, where the recession has turned the once-thriving city into an Orwellian dictatorship. This alternate universe is ruled by the National Unity Government. The state controls everything: politicians have been replaced by sociologists, food is rationed, and everything is monitored by CCTV. Frances Weldon, once a rich and successful novelist, spends much of the story huddled on the stairs of her home in Chalcot Crescent, hiding from debt collectors. Frances uses her perch to fill in the story, an 80-year adventure of family drama, speculation, and confession, with occasional philosophical asides on aging, fate, biology, and the nature of fiction. Frances discovers her family’s involvement in a planned overthrow of the government, casting an additional shadow on her circumstances. But plot is not the driving force here. What makes this novel succeed is Weldon herself, Fay that is. Her prose is observant, clever, witty, and thought-provoking despite its bleak framework—a heavy subject made palatable, even engaging, because Fay Weldon does the telling. --Carol Gladstein

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