Women’s fiction more than a moneymaker
Women’s fiction is often mocked as a lesser form of literature, frothy with no substance to keep the ladies happy. I disagree — it shines a light on society’s evolving concerns.
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I’ve always loved stories that surprise me. And I love stories about love. So my latest read is ticking all my boxes.
At first glance, The Ex might seem to be about a woman who meets a man and realises he is The One. Is this just the same, tired old romantic cliche we find in fiction aimed at women
Well, no, in fact it’s quite the opposite. Nicola Moriarty’s latest novel up-ends our expectations to become a compulsively page-turning, twisty tale of two young women navigating life, love, work, mental health, family, friendship and loss, and it marks the latest evolution of one of the most dynamic literary genres out there: women’s fiction.
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Women’s fiction is often derided for being a lesser form of literature, something to keep the ladies happy but without much substance or value of its own. In fact, with women making up the vast majority of fiction buyers, stories by and for women pack a serious commercial punch for booksellers and publishers.
Out of the fifty best-selling General Fiction authors in 2016, half were writing women’s fiction and they were responsible for generating 65 per cent of the top fifty’s revenue — a cool $31m.
Certain categories of women’s fiction — romance, historical, sagas — are very steady sellers, with a clear and dedicated audience. But we do see some interesting spikes and trends when the next Big New Thing comes along.
Women’s fiction can shine a fascinating light on society’s concerns and if we look back, we can see how we’ve been evolving alongside the genre.
The 80s and 90s were dominated by the ‘bonkbuster’ — from Jackie Collins to Shirley Conran to Working Girl, it was all about the shoulder pads and being a powerful career woman.
But as the recession of the nineties kicked in, our stories became a bit less flashy and a bit more personal.
Chick-lit titles were everywhere, with their brightly coloured, illustrated covers and lighthearted, funny explorations of a woman’s search for love. You could see it at the movies, too, as romantic comedies took over the box office.
In Australia, we’ve had Rachael Treasure and Rachael Johns, and the rise of rural romance — or ‘ru-ro’ — reflecting a desire for homegrown stories combined with a healthy dash of escapism.
But then chick-lit got too fluffy and we started to read stories that dug a little deeper, with the protagonist’s quest moving beyond finding romance to unearthing old family secrets.
Novels like Kate Morton’s, with a dual narrative and a central mystery from the past — often a romantic tragedy — solved by a character from the present, became the new must-read.
And who could forget the total domination (pun intended!) of Fifty Shades of Grey in 2012?
Seemingly out of nowhere, erotic fiction was topping the charts and escapist fantasy took on a whole new dimension. An increase in sales of erotic and romantic fiction came hand-in-hand with the rise of ebooks, as e-readers and smartphones allowed us more privacy in our reading.
Crime fiction has always been a popular genre but as books like The Girl on the Train took over the crime and thriller lists in 2015, women’s fiction writers began approaching questions of psychological suspense from a different perspective — interested in exploring ideas of threat and safety, trust and betrayal from a more personal, intimate place, rather than following a detective and a formal investigation, or simply solving a crime.
We’ve always been curious about what goes on behind the closed doors of other people’s houses, but as social media lets us perform the best version of our lives online, so our appetite to know the sordid truth behind the Instagram filter has increased.
That’s given us ‘domestic noir’, novels with an intriguing and unsettling contemporary mystery at the heart.
Authors such as Nicola Moriarty with The Fifth Letter, her sister Liane with Big Little Lies (another top-selling Moriarty sibling, Jaclyn, writes mainly for young adults) or Sally Hepworth with The Mother in Law, have taken the mystery as a jumping-off point to explore relationships between women — whether it be a group of old friends trying to reconnect, mums dealing with playground rivalries, a woman and her mother-in-law failing to find common ground.
The joy of women’s fiction is that it’s so varied. Whatever your preference, whether you’re looking for a happy ending, a family drama, a dangerous edge, a smouldering romance, or an amusing escape, there’s something for you.
Tonight I’m settling down to finish The Ex — and I won’t be sleeping until I reach the last page.
Anna Valdinger is a publisher at HarperCollins Australia.
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BOOK OF THE MONTH
Here at The Sunday Book Club we are VERY EXCITED about the new season of Big Little Lies, coming to Foxtel a week tomorrow.
And being fans of its creator, Australian bestseller Liane Moriarty, we’re especially chuffed to offer as our new Book of the Month the latest belter by her equally talented sister Nicola Moriarty.
The Ex introduces us to loving couple Luke and Georgia, who would appear to have the perfect relationship — were it not for his ex, Cadence, who is “having trouble moving on”.
As the stalking becomes more menacing, Georgia knows she has to take action …
We don’t want to give any more spoilers but it’s a fast-moving, attention-grabbing read full of surprises and questions about relationship baggage and honesty.
The Ex, published by HarperCollins Australia, is Nicola’s fifth novel and will likely follow its forerunner The Fifth Letter into the top 10.
It’s on shelves from June 17 but we want to give Sunday Book Club readers the chance to pre-order it now at the usual 30 per cent discount by going to Booktopia and using the code BCBT19.
Finally, we’ll have an interview with the author herself two weeks today — can’t wait.
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