Once upon a time, popular fiction consumers looking for female-friendly books couldn't find much more than romance novels. Then contemporary "chick lit" sashayed into the marketplace on stiletto heels, with the likes of "Bridget Jones' Diary" and "Sex and the City" seducing throngs of 20- and 30somethings into bookstores.

But what of the more seasoned woman, the professional seeking entertaining fiction that dares deal with weighty issues ---- divorce and single parenthood, midlife dating, employment crises, an empty nest, even menopause?

A few savvy publishers saw the light ---- and the potential profit ---- and launched imprints targeting the over-35 female professional, a demographic already well-inclined toward book buying. And now, author Claire Cook has become one of the genre's star authors.

Her debut novel, "Ready to Fall," was released in 2001; she quickly followed it with the best-selling book-turned-film "Must Love Dogs" in 2002. Four novels later ("Multiple Choice," "Life's a Beach," "Summer Blowout" and "The Wildwater Walking Club"), Cook's books are being gobbled up by mature women hungry for literature in which they recognize their own experiences, perhaps even themselves.

Her newest is "Seven Year Switch," the title reflecting the notion that every seven years, individuals remake themselves. The novel was released this month by Voices, a Hyperion imprint that launched in 2007 to publish fiction and nonfiction for older women who "don't want to be ignored or put out to pasture."

"Seven Year Switch" (which Cook will be signing Monday at The Book Works in Del Mar) certainly fits that bill, and it has something from just about every food group.

With a nicely crafted plot, Cook reveals the seven-year transition of abandoned wife and financially strapped single mother Jill Murray. But Jill is uncertain of what her transition ought to be. Having shelved the hope of intimacy and focused instead on paying the rent, Jill is stuck in a seemingly dead-end job, supplemented by teaching cooking classes (which provides a recurring and entertaining international theme). In the thick of keeping her head above water, Jill is suddenly offered some unexpected options: the reappearance of her derelict husband, who wants back into the family, and a slightly eccentric, bike-riding entrepreneur, who wants something Jill is not sure she's in a position to give.

As Jill struggles with the economic and social realities of the unplanned life in which she finds herself ---- and the sudden influx of eligible men ---- she is confronted by a grander dilemma: What does she really want to become? Jill wends her way through this self-exploration, an inevitable female friend in tow, and ultimately surprises the reader with the realism of her resolution. No astounding epiphany, no shining knight on steed, just a pragmatic acknowledgement of hope and determination that is likely to ring true for most readers.

And this is because Cook is an accomplished writer. Unlike too many of her genre peers, Cook actually knows grammar, she knows syntax, she knows dialogue, she knows storytelling. She also knows women, and she has a gift for wrapping up their disappointments and joys, and delivering them in a believable female voice that ranges from fabulously flippant to heart-rending.

Any woman who has been asked by a wrongdoing man for a second chance can relate to the conflicting reactions Jill experiences when approached by her husband after his seven-year absence: "I'd kissed him and killed him over and over again, violently and passionately ..."

And when he asks for the opportunity to make things right, Jill's response is as anguished as it is familiar. "Seth, you cleaned out our bank account when you ran off. Do you know what that did to our daughter and me? ... Do you know what I found out, Seth? That they can't repossess your car if you're in it. I slept in our car, Seth. For weeks. Our daughter slept in our car for weeks. In her Blue's Clues sleeping bag with her entire collection of Beanie Babies."

Such dialogue is painfully real to more families than you might care to believe.

The one plot point readers could find challenging, particularly after learning what a heel Seth has been, is her serious consideration of renewing their relationship. But women come in all shapes, sizes and sensibilities, and there are surely some who will find that plausible.

Any minor weaknesses in Cook's new novel are just that. If you have a penchant for woman's literature that rejects bodice-ripping fantasy in favor of real women with brains, substance and sense of humor well intact, functioning in the real world with all its prickly realities, "Seven Year Switch" is thoroughly satisfying.

Kit-Bacon Gressitt is a writer and host of Fallbrook's free monthly Writers Read, with featured authors and open mic readings of poetry and prose. Contact her at kbgressitt@aol.com.

"Seven Year Switch"

**** (out of four)

Author: Claire Cook

Publisher: Voice, an imprint of Hyperion Books, 2010

Binding: Hardcover and e-book

Pages: 256

Price: $24.99 hardcover; e-book varies