Author Fay Weldon dead at 91

Feminist author Fay Weldon, who wrote more than books including The Life and Loves of a She Devil has died aged 91. The author died at a nursing home in Northampton, in news confirmed by her son today. No cause of death was given, but the author was ailing with age and had suffered several strokes and other health problems.

Fay Weldon was born in Worcestershire in 1930 and started out her career as an advertising copywriter. She’s credited with the phrase “Go to work on an egg”, which all Brits of a certain age will remember. However, she’s best known for her often controversial views, her staunch feminism, her outspokenness, and her 30 novels, many bestsellers. Many of her novels were standalone, but she also wrote many a series including The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, and it’s sequel Death of a She Devil, The Love and Inheritance trilogy, the Spoils of War duology, and several non-fiction books on Jane Austen, Rebecca West and other subjects. In 1971 Weldon also wrote an episode of Upstairs Downstairs, wrote a miniseries adaption of Pride and Prejudice starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul, and wrote several plays.

A self-declared feminist, Weldon’s work features what she described as “overweight, plain women” . She stated that she deliberately sought to write about and give a voice to women who are often overlooked or not featured in the media.

Although not actively writing for some time now, Weldon’s death has been felt across the literary world.