The majority of novel-readers, one is told, are women; it would be interesting to know what proportion, and what kind of women, prefer fantasy—daydreams of an impossibly different life—to stories which reflect everywoman's lot. Fay Weldon's Remember Me is in the second category. Not only does the reader learn what style and colour are the clothes worn by the [characters],… but where they bought them…. Food, furniture and household linens are given the same attention. Fay Weldon is a successful television playwright, which may account for her eye for settings and for setpieces: breakfast, a dinner party, moments in the day crosscut between three households….

Role-playing is emphasized by a persistent Happy Families technique: "Up gets Margot, the doctor's wife…." Proper names are reiterated as in a game….

Reading Remember Me is rather like gossiping about friends of friends. The characters are real, in that one...