Spa Decameron

It is the week between Christmas and New Year's, and ten high-achieving ladies are gathered at the expensive Castle Spa, seeking to rejuvenate themselves with Botox, aromatherapy, and all-around pampering. They lounge around in the Jacuzzi, sipping champagne and telling each other the story of their lives: the Trophy Wife's tale of her spell in a Greek prison; the Brain Surgeon's story of twins and mistaken identity; and the Judge's sex change, which allowed him to explore the pleasures of the bedroom from both male and female perspectives. The manicurist, the public speaker, the journalist, the company director, the ex-vicar's wife, and the screenwriter all share their stories, ending with the stepmother's tale - a reversal of Cinderella's fate, with the stepmother as the victim.

Fay Weldon offers a glimpse of the despairs and dalliances of a set of high-powered women who have burned paths through - and sometimes been burned by - their worlds and the men within them. The Spa is a darkly funny book of confessions from ten women who, despite prejudice, imprisonment, domestic catastrophes, and romantic debacles, have risen to the top of their respective worlds.