Puffball

Richard and Liffey have been married for seven complacent years, and Richard is ready for a baby. Though Liffey is not, she agrees to become pregnant if Richard will agree to move to the countryside outside London. After all, she thinks, if she had a little peace and quiet she could really get down to writing her novel.

But life at Honeycomb cottage is not so peaceful. Richard’s commute to London so infuriates him that he retreats to the city; Liffey seems unable to conceive; and a seemingly friendly couple, Tucker and Mabs, actually have mischeif in mind – in the form of a witch’s potion concocted to make Richard and Liffey unfaithful to one another.

Satiric, disturbing, magical, this dissection of marriage, pregnancy, witchcraft, city life, country life, birth and death could only happen in one place: Fay Weldon territory.