Eleanor Darcy, a woman of marginal genealogy and looks that play better than they should, is married to
the economist to whom the Prime Minister listens. Determined to rip apart the old order and start fresh, Eleanor becomes the serpent—or angel—who whispers utopian visions in Julian Darcy's ear.
With the husband in jail for imperiling the financial structure of the nation, Eleanor grants exclusive interviews to two journalists, Hugo Vansitart and Valerie Jones. Though they seem more preoccupied with each other than with their elusive subject, their goal is the same: to capture the essence of Eleanor Darcy. Hugo is loking for truth and pragmatism in Eleanor's vision: Valerie is in quest of the woman's struggle.
From their diverse portraits, Eleanor Darcy emerges, and so does her remarkable vision—complete with shockingly sensible ideas about child-rearing, abortion, education, integration, fundamentalism, economics—and, of course, a new twist on that old story of the sexes.
Fay Weldon has once again skewered the conventions of modern society with wit and wisdom, shining her flashlight on the threadbare morals of modern life.
'Weird, wild and wonderful reading.' - Best
'Fay Weldon provokes you to think. You'd expect -no less of the social and sexual soothsayer of our literary times.' - Company
'Weaves a provocative view of modern society into a tale of explosive love and, perhaps, even, black magic. This is a dazzling tour de force from one of Britain's most inspiring and intelligent novelists today.' - Cosmopolitan
'A crash course in philosophy, religion, politics and idealism, with sexual passion, love and the nature of betrayal thrown in.' - Woman's Journal
'A funny, irreverent, extremely witty book, about women's lot in today's world.' - Irish Press
'Darcy's Utopia is among the most frolicsome of her novels, but it still manages to display her quiet, grave insistence that we change our ways.' - Sunday Times
'She conjures away with her diverse properties - high comedy, political science, black magic as a clever juggler might deal simultaneously with an orange, a football and an inflated balloon.' - Guardian
