Puffball

A novel of urban deceit and rural passion, of doctors, witches, birth and death.

Richard and Liffey, a young married couple, follow their dream of moving out of London to a country cottage in the middle of Somerset. Richard continues to live and work in London, coming to stay with Liffey only on weekends.

Pregnant Liffey feels burdened, hampered, at the mercy of these biological impulses beyond her control.

Then there are the odd neighbours, the Tuckers, to reckon with, and the looming shadow of Bella, Richard's lover in London, threatening the rural idyll Liffey had for so long imagined.

With wit and wisdom, Fay Weldon paints a funny and shocking picture of the conflicts within these seemingly conventional lives, conflicts which appear inevitably to stem from the eternal struggle between male and female.