Novel treatment for the menopause
A leADiNG British publisher is ‘actively looking’ for fiction which reflects women’s experiences of the menopause.
Harpercollins wants to print stories that ‘change the conversation surrounding menopause’ following years of young female protagonists taking centre stage.
it comes as the subject is increasingly raised on TV, from Davina Mccall’s channel 4 documentary Sex, Mind and the Menopause to the Netflix political drama Borgen, in which the protagonist grapples with menopausal symptoms.
Many female authors have complained that novels about ‘edgy’ bright young women are favoured by publishers over those about the lives of middle-aged and post-menopausal characters.
Now Harpercollins wants to lead the way in creating a new genre – the menopause thriller – which would ‘portray perimenopausal and menopausal women as smart, funny, powerful characters who are liberated, walk tall and fight back’.
it could see the end of ‘chick lit’, a term widely used in the nineties to describe popular fiction targeted at younger women. Publishers want to broaden the stories they sell. Women aged over 45 are the main group who buy e-books, according to research by The Bookseller.
Manpreet Grewal, of Harpercollins, told The Telegraph it will be publishing The change by Kirsten Miller in August. She said: ‘All editors and publishers should be looking for novels that, like The change, embrace and celebrate this stage of women’s lives.’
clare Hey, of Simon & Schuster UK, said: ‘We’re proud to publish older female authors writing for and about women of their own age in a positive way.’