In the early days of the novel, women writers would often take on a male pseudonym, even write with a male swagger, in order to be taken seriously. Things have really evolved since then (thank God), so much so that in recent days the opposite is happening. Everywhere you look, there is another bestseller written by a man that promises to artfully reveal the inner workings of the female mind. These books are doing very well. Everyone and their mother has read Wally Lamb’s She’s Come Undone (partly thanks to Oprah’s endorsement); Nick Hornby’s How to Be Good has a female narrator; and Clara Callan, Richard B. Wright’s book of letters and diary entries by a “rural school marm” was one of CBC’s Canada Reads titles.

I was recently at a reading given by Toronto author Michael Redhill. The girl sitting next to me ...