SOURCE: Review of Polaris and Other Stories and Leader of the Band, in New York Times Book Review, June 4, 1989, pp. 1, 26.

In the following review, Ward offers praise for Polaris and Other Stories but finds Leader of the Band unsatisfying.

Fay Weldon, a risky, engaged writer, is an ardent feminist, a novelist of characters and ideas. In an age where much fiction is cut-rate minimalist, or cocaine chic, Ms. Weldon shows us another path. She is complex, smart and political without cheating us on esthetics. And she is profoundly funny. Her Life and Loves of a She-Devil is a small masterpiece of invective, the ultimate feminist revenge novel, but one so truly amusing and consistently intelligent that even a guilt-ridden male chauvinist can't resist it.

The publication of even one Weldon book is a cause for celebration; this time out we are fortunate to have two, Polaris and Other...