...And she lived tipsily ever after
Romance is out as Mills & Boon launch spoof ‘feisty and feminist’ guides to drink, diets and work
FIRST Ladybird became last year’s surprise bestsellers with a series of spoof books for adults.
Then The Famous Five had an ironic 21st Century makeover in a series of parodies including Five On Brexit Island.
Now the publishers of the classic Mills & Boon romances have jumped on the bandwagon with a new series of jokey survival guides celebrating womanhood. The books are billed as ‘funny, feisty and feminist’ and publishers HarperCollins say they want to cash in on the trend for parodying much-loved brands. Penguin’s spoof Ladybird books have sold two million copies and earned more than £11million since last year’s launch.
The first two Mills & Boon Modern Girl’s Guides – written by a duo, including at least one woman, under the pen name Ada Adverse – launched this month with Working 9 To 5 and Happy Hour.
They contain a series of humorous archival pictures paired with helpful modern advice.
The Mills & Boon Modern Girl’s Guide To Happy Hour says: ‘Welcome to the A-Z of Happy Hour: the definitive guide to having fun (or at least pretending to).’
Under ‘A’ for ‘Alcohol’, alongside a picture of a pearl-wearing matriarch pouring whisky into a teapot, the advice reads: ‘It doesn’t count towards your weekly tally if you drink it out of a teacup in front of Bargain Hunt. I read that in a book.’
And under ‘W’ for ‘Womanhood’, the book jokes about menstrual pain. In the Working 9 To 5 guide, the letter ‘I’ (for ‘Invisibility’) section carries a picture of a middle-aged woman and the caption: ‘Mavis has finally realised that she is invisible at work.’
Two more guides are in the pipeline. Helping Yourself – about dieting and getting healthy after Christmas – is out on December 29. And the Happy Endings guide about dating will be published in the New Year.
Mills & Boon, founded in 1908, sells 5.5million romance books a year.
HarperCollins said: ‘The guides are our take on the trend for nostalgia in the style of Five Go Gluten Free.
‘This is a modern take on the muchloved Mills & Boon brand for the Christmas gift market.’