Writers who knew her recall how her playful intelligence, rebellious spirit and colourful personality had a profound effect on their life and work
Lara Feigel: ‘When I first read her novels, I saw myself as a feminist reading feminist classics’“We must both live our lives to the full,” Bobbo tells his wife, Ruth, in The Life and Loves of a She Devil, unilaterally announcing an open marriage. She has a baby and is four months pregnant, holding her mouth together to stop herself vomiting as he talks.
I last saw her last summer, in a nursing home in a suburb of Northampton which could have been the setting for one of her novels. She could no longer write, or speak clearly; I don’t think this was a stage of life she’d have been sorry not to prolong. But she still wanted to exchange gossip and she still wanted to be read. I wanted then to find a way to spark a revival in reading her novels, and am sad that it’s her death that is making that happen.
I, however, liked her. She was proud of her success as an advertising copywriter – which influenced my own decision to try advertising in turn – but never full of herself. A decade later, when I returned to live in a different rented basement in the same street, we met again. I was very surprised that she remembered me, given how few people take any notice of teenagers, but she did – and even apologised for her comments in that interview. We became friendly, despite the 30-year age gap.
Fay was kind, and honest, and brave – not just about her own life, and the choices she had made, but in sticking up for other women, too.Chief books writer at the Guardian
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