Because of the overwhelming number of books targeted at women, it’s tempting to think a female aesthetic takes hold once a book enters the machinery of publishing. After all, women occupy marketing and editorial positions in overwhelming numbers.

Young has good access to editorial movers and shakers on two continents, but he’s more interested in the process and people that determine what ends up on the page than the bombshells about bloodthirsty and opportunistic journalists you’re hoping for.

The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood has been the target of many brickbats in her time thanks to never fully accepting the term ‘science fiction’ about her work. Some would say the criticism is deserved – particularly after the author herself told the BBC science fiction was about ‘talking squids in outer space’.