Middle-aged memoirs out in 2014

Jo Brand is to write a book about being a middle-aged woman.

She has signed a deal with publishers Headline to write Growing Old Disgracefully: How To Be A Middle-Aged Woman – but it won’t be released until spring 2014.

The book is described as ‘the experiences of the more senior of us who are too often expected to fade away without complaint’ as well as being ‘funny, anecdotal and personal’.

‘But [it] will also make more serious points about middle age, growing old and society's attitude to clocking up the years,’ the publisher said.

Headline’s Martin Fletcher told trade paper The Bookseller: ‘This is a subject Jo loves to talk about and the book will be written from the heart.

‘Jo feels very strongly about society trying to mute the middle-aged. Ballsy, with great gags and observational comedy, this will be a book with a loud voice.’

Brand’s two-part autobiography, Look Back In Hunger and Can’t Stand Up For Sitting Down have proved strong sellers over the past two years, and she has also written novels including Sorting out Billy, The More You Ignore Me and It’s Different For Girls.

Meanwhile, Jenny Eclair’s latest novel, Life, Death and Vanilla Slices, is published on Monday. Order.

Published: 29 Jun 2012