Book publisher Hachette has announced it has acquired the rights to first-time author Joanna Nell’s ‘The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village’ in a two-book deal.

The book, which will be published next October, will be a funny and life-affirming take on retirement village life based around 79-year-old pensioner Peggy Smart and the other women who live in the village.

Hachette fiction publisher Rebecca Saunders says the book will entertain readers with what they can expect later in life: “pill popping, aqua yoga, overbearing children, finding romantic love, dealing with grief, faltering health and so on.”

“I think there has long been a gap in the market for entertaining stories that reflect the lives of women and men of “a certain age”,” she told Books and Publishing.

Ms Nell, a GP who based the characters on some of her older patients, says she hopes the book will increase the appetite for books featuring older characters.

“It is not just a book for retirees,” she said. “[It] reminds us that characters don’t have to be younger than 45 to be relatable, dynamic and vibrant.”