Mantrapped

A wonderful new slice of the bizarre from Weldon.

Trisha had been rich and Trisha had been poor, and she knew it was better to be rich. But, even worse, now she was to be stripped of her identity. She is to swap sex, and her very soul, with young, handsome, trendy Peter Watson. She passes him too close upon the stairs, and some might think what happens – a first in mankind’s history – is an improvement and some might not. Peter’s partner Doralee thinks not.

Mantrapped is the continuing story of Fay Weldon, writer, mother, daughter, sister, cook, campaigner, juggler of life, time, work and money. Like Trisha she has been rich, and like Trisha she has been poor: like Trisha she has been well and truly man trapped, and – unlike Trisha – does not regret one bit. From 1960s London (wild parties, no money) to 1970s Somerset (animals, wild parties, no money) Weldon has lived a life rich in adventure and courage. The things you regret, as she points out, are what you don’t do, not what you do.

In this vastly entertaining book she argues that in a world in which the writer can no longer hope to be anonymous, it is devious, and indeed dishonourable, to keep yourself out of your own novels. The reader, hoping for bread, should not be given stones.