watch out, product placement is hitting the bookshelves. the italian jewellers bulgari have paid fay weldon ‘an undisclosed sum’ for a prominent place in her new book. they’ve even got their name into the title.

“when the approach came through, i thought, `oh no, dear me, i am a literary author. you can’t do this kind of thing; my name will be mud forever,’” ms. weldon recalled last week. “but then after a while i thought, `i don’t care. let it be mud. they never give me the booker prize anyway.’”