''She''s a queen of words'' CAITLIN MORAN.

Thirty years ago, Joanna May''s husband conducted a terrifying experiment. The result? Jane, Gina, Julie, and Alice; his wife Joanna, replicated four times. And all of them, Joanna included, are suffering at the hands of the men in their lives...

Now in her ninth decade, Fay Weldon is one of the foremost chroniclers of our time, a novelist who spoke to an entire generation of women by daring to say the things that no one else would. Her work ranges over novels, short stories, children''s books, nonfiction, journalism, television, radio, and the stage. She was awarded a CBE in 2001.