Women's fiction grows up

A new series of books has hit the market this summer, aiming to tap into the lives and loves of the middle-aged woman. Jane Miller met up with the brains behind the groundbreaking publishing house Transita and its collection of nifty novels...

All those urban novels aimed at 20-something girls living the high life are fine - but what happens when we reach a certain age, why is nobody writing about us?

Step forward entrepreneur Nikki Read who has established a new publishing house specifically geared to discovering mature female writers and making them available to like-minded readers. "We are here for new writers of over 45 who wanted to write about women over 45. Most of their work was being turned down by publishers and agents on the basis they just wouldn't sell because there wasn't a market for fiction for women of over 45." As any Modern & Mature reader will tell you, there certainly is a market for fiction for women over 45. "We spend more time in bookshops than any other age group. It makes huge sense to me that people will want to read stories that mirror their own lives," says Nikki.

But there has been some criticism of her targeted publishing approach, not least by some readers who don't like to be labelled. "I have been quite amazed by it, it's incredible. We just wanted to make good a deficiency in the market," explains Nikki. "I was listening to Open Book (on Radio 4) and one of the women said that if she wanted to read about the menopause she'd get a medical book - but our books aren't like that. A lot of these books were already written and because they were middleaged women they were rejected by othe publishers."

In total Transita will release 18 titles this year on a variety of themes and in a variety of styles, but all likely to appeal to an older female readership. According to Nikki, who founded the company with her husband Giles Lewis, a modern take on middle-age is all part of the Transita philosophy. "Middle-age does provide an opportunity to reinvent yourself to some extent and for our generation, the baby boomer generation, we are redefining what it means to be middle-aged."

"The books are about women who want to change, or who have to change ? and who find courage, strength, humour and love in the process," claims the inside jacket of every Transita novel.

Light-hearted escapism, enjoyable and touchingly familiar; this is something every Transita book strives to achieve, according to Nikki. "If you allow a woman of over 45 to write what she wants to write then she will write what women of that age want to read and it's authentic," she says.

While many people don't like their fiction, or their lives, defined by their age. It can be helpful to have some help finding books you are likely to relate to, believes Nikki. "There are some very good women's writers out there... but I can only think of a handful who write about omen of that age. People tend to stumble over them. There's no clear signposting to books they might be interested in."

Not surprisingly, Nikki is a typical 'Transita woman'. "I had four children then went to do a degree in my late 30s. I went into publishing in my early 40s," she says. "Where I live there are a lot of women doing the same, doing degrees and really living the life they haven't had the opportunity to until then."

OUT IN JULY FROM TRANSITA

Stage By Stage by Jan Jones, £7.99
After her husband walks out on their marriage, Beth juggles her children's acting pursuits with making ends meet and finds herself drawn to Owen, an actor married to the stage.

After Michael by Betty O'Rourke, £7.99
When Fiona Latimer learns that her husband Michael has died of a sudden heart attack alone in his London flat, she is shocked but not devastated. His past however comes back to haunt her as she discovers her life with him was not at all what it had seemed.

For more information on Transita, visit
www.transita.co.uk
Books are available online and in all good bookshops.