Humour is not a quality I had ever associated with writer Fay Weldon.

I confess I have never read any of her novels but I have seen some of her TV work and listened to her views on programmes such as Question Time and Woman's Hour on Radio 4.

But there were laughs galore as she read excerpts from her autobiography, Auto Da Fay, talking about the New Zealand earthquake that heralded her birth in her Antipodean homeland and the piano-playing grandmother who came to live with her, her sister and mother (hence The House Of Women).

Weldon comes from a family of writers and acknowledged that, because of that literary background, she was bound to be a writer.

She is an honest and warm character, renowned for her views of men and relationships and basically how best to cope with life - or choosing the least worst option, as she put it.

There was no real answer to why she wrote this first installment of her life story. She confessed she never thought recalling the past was any good for anyone and writing the book was like ripping off scar tissue. It was not the right thing to do to find a wound still underneath.

The book only covers up to when she is 32 and becomes a "proper" writer. Weldon dreads writing the next section because many of the people concerned are still alive and she may have to do some heavy editing in order not to hurt anyone.

But the ending of this first volume is a cliffhanger - tempting people to read on.

Review by James Barber, james.barber@theargus.co.uk