Female readers are the acknowledged force behind the market in published fiction. Their collective response to a book has decided the fate of many a novelist. And when the book groups of Britain get behind a new title, it makes a big difference to its fortunes.
Now canny theatre producers are harnessing that commercial power with a string of new stage shows based on hit books by female authors that were also enjoyed largely by female readers. Waiting in the wings this spring are plays or musicals based on bestsellers that include Hamnet, The Time Traveler’s Wife and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.
