“Barely a week goes by without some sneering reference to chick-lit which has become all but a term of abuse. Why this should be is not clear – simple envy, perhaps, at our huge sales and concomitantly large advances. Or the belief that because these books are easy to read, they’re easy to write. They’re not. But I think there is something much deeper at work: a snobbish distaste for popular writing full stop.”