Bio: Fay Weldon was born in England in 1933. Her father was a doctor and her mother a novelist who wrote under the pen name "Pearl Bellaris." Her parents separated when Weldon was five years old, and she moved with her mother and sister to New Zealand. Weldon returned to the United Kingdom to pursue a degree in psychology and economics at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Weldon was briefly married to an older man, a union which produced one son. She worked in the advertising industry to support herself and her son, and was remarried in 1962. After a mid-life crisis, Weldon underwent psychotherapy, an experience she credits with giving her the courage to quit her job in advertising and become a writer. She wrote over fifty plays for radio, television and theater before publishing her first novel, The Fat Woman's Joke, in 1967. Since then, she has written short story collections, television scripts, magazine and newspaper articles and over twenty novels. The announcement of her upcoming novel, The Bulgari Connection, commissioned by the Italian jeweler Bulgari, recently caused a stir as many speculated it was a possible harbinger of a new form of commercial product placement.