SOURCE: "Love Fails Again," in New York Times Book Review, Vol. 101, June 9, 1996, p. 19.

In the following review, Karbo finds in Worst Fears an unexpected compassion, which, she writes, "makes it one of her best novels yet."

If you want the truth about the man-woman thing, forget all those cloying self-help books and read Fay Weldon. Her 20 novels,—Worst Fears is her 21st—are the literary equivalent of a stiff drink, a dip in the Atlantic in January, a pep talk by a mildly sadistic coach.

Ms. Weldon's work will never inspire a compact disk of love songs or a cookbook filled with goopy treats. The author of the diabolical best seller The Life and Loves of a She-Devil calls it as she sees it—not a popular approach when dealing with our most cherished state of self-delusion, romantic love.

Alexandra Ludd is a minor actress who lives happily...