Leeds Lit Fest presents

What is it about reading fiction that women love?  What kind of fiction do women particularly enjoy? Where and when do women read?  And why is it that women make up the majority of book-club and library members, literary bloggers, audiences at literary festivals and bookshop events, and visitors to literary sites?  Drawing on interviews with more than 400 women of all ages, Helen Taylor reveals how reading fiction, whether alone or as part of a group is, for many women, an integral part of life: a means of escape, time to be alone, a chance to be part of a community, a life-enhancer and, sometimes, a life-saver.   She also interviews a number of well-known female authors, including Hilary Mantel, Katie Fforde, Helen Dunmore, Sarah Dunant, and more, asking them about their own reading as well as their relationships with their readers, book reviewers, and publishers.

Helen Taylor has been decribed in the Sunday Times as one of the "most tempting literary prospects of 2020."