Weldon 's most celebrated work is her 1983 novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil which she wrote at the age of 52 . Her novel '' The Hearts and Lives of Men '' was written and published in serial form , appearing in the British magazine '' Woman '' between 1 February and 15 November 1986 . She told '' The New York Times '' , " It was written as the Dickens novels were written .... You made it up as you went along , confined by the structure of the story , which is going to go on for you do n't know how long — but you have to be able to bring it to an end with three weeks ' warning . " In 1996 , she was a member of the jury at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival . She was also chair of judges for the 1983 Booker Prize . The judging for that prize produced a draw between J. M. Coetzee 's '' Life & Times of Michael K '' and Salman Rushdie 's '' Shame '' , leaving Weldon to choose between the two . According to Stephen Moss in '' The Guardian '' , " Her arm was bent and she chose Rushdie " only to change her mind as the result was being phoned through
46th Berlin International Film Festival
46th Berlin International Film Festival
Fay Weldon