Rhode Island Blues
Published on 1. July 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-0-00-729186-1 (ISBN)
Description
Weldon on top form; Weldon tackling love, sex, ageing, death; Weldon at her wittiest best; Weldon unparalleled.
Sophia is a thirty-four-year-old film editor living in Soho. Her only living relation (she thinks), her grandmother Felicity, is an eighty-three-year-old widow (several times) living in smart Connecticut. Sophia is torn between her delight in her freedom and a nagging desire for the family ties that everyone else grumbles about: casual sex is all very well, but who do you spend Christmas with? Her current bed-mate seems to be in love with a glamorous Hollywood film star (not that Sophia cares, of course: she's a New Woman); her mad mother is dead. All she has is Felicity.
But Felicity is not your average granny. Temperamental, sophisticated, chic (and alarmingly eccentric), she has seen much of life, love and sex and is totally prepared to see more. Even if it is from a twilight home (The Golden Bowl Complex for Creative Retirement)...Twilight is not at all Felicity's idea of fun; and quite possibly she has more idea of fun than her granddaughter.
As the two women's stories unravel, the past rears up with all its grimness and irony; but points the way to a future that may redeem them both.
Sophia is a thirty-four-year-old film editor living in Soho. Her only living relation (she thinks), her grandmother Felicity, is an eighty-three-year-old widow (several times) living in smart Connecticut. Sophia is torn between her delight in her freedom and a nagging desire for the family ties that everyone else grumbles about: casual sex is all very well, but who do you spend Christmas with? Her current bed-mate seems to be in love with a glamorous Hollywood film star (not that Sophia cares, of course: she's a New Woman); her mad mother is dead. All she has is Felicity.
But Felicity is not your average granny. Temperamental, sophisticated, chic (and alarmingly eccentric), she has seen much of life, love and sex and is totally prepared to see more. Even if it is from a twilight home (The Golden Bowl Complex for Creative Retirement)...Twilight is not at all Felicity's idea of fun; and quite possibly she has more idea of fun than her granddaughter.
As the two women's stories unravel, the past rears up with all its grimness and irony; but points the way to a future that may redeem them both.
Reviews / Votes
'Meticulously planned and mightily enjoyable, Fay Weldon's latest is a real treat.' Daily Mail'As delightfully idiosyncratic as its mettlesome heroines, this novel is well up to Weldon's high standard of fictional entertainment.' The Times
'Good-humoured, wise and entertaining novel...There is so much to enjoy and admire in Rhode Island Blues.' Spectator
'This is terrific stuff. Nobobdy writes about the lot of modern women - and men - with the wisdom or wit of Fay Weldon...Marvellous.' Sunday Herald, Glasgow
'A substantial treat for those long autumn evenings after a summer of superficial beach and airport novels.' Ham & High
'The Golden Girls on acid.' Sunday Express
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
337 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-729186-1 (9780007291861)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Previous edition
Person
Fay Weldon is a novelist, screenwriter and cultural journalist. Her novels include 'The Life and Loves of a She-Devil', 'Puffball', 'Big Women' and 'Rhode Island Blues'. She has also published her autobiography 'Auto da Fay'. Her most recent novel was the critically acclaimed 'She May Not Leave'. She lives in Dorset.