The Fat Woman's Joke

Bestselling author Fay Weldon delivers a scathing satire about society's obsession with female weight and beauty in the 1960s, as relevant today as when it was first published.

After a lifetime of gorging herself, Esther Wells has an epiphany: She and her husband, Alan, are going on a diet. Dedicated foodies throughout their marriage, they are about to discover what happens when new passions supplant old.

Deprived of the meals he loves, Alan, an advertising man by trade and a novelist by avocation, promptly begins an affair with his secretary, Susan. But his fantasies are all about food. With her marriage to Alan in jeopardy, Esther moves out and commits a betrayal of her own.

Narrated by Esther through a series of flashbacks, The Fat Woman's Joke is a novel about sex, food, marriage, and the indignities of the 1960s. Infused with Fay Weldon's trenchant wit and illuminating observations, it's a satisfying, deeply felt tale of one woman's revenge upon the world that has oppressed her.