British Press Chuffed With 93-Year-Old First Time Author

Finally, some good news for all those 30- and 40-something would-be novelists who fear that there's no chance their work will ever get published in an environment overrun by eager, hungry, beautiful writers barely out of college. Meet Lorna Page, the 93-year-old debut novelist whose book, A Dangerous Weakness is getting a ton of press coverage in the U.K.

Drawing heavily from a June 26th press release touting the book, several British papers have brought Ms. Page's story to the public. The Telegraph's Stephen Adams describes Weakness as the story of "a woman who becomes involved in a bitter power struggle after receiving an apparently innocent invitation by an old school friend to spend Christmas at her Swiss lodge."

The Guardian's Martin Wainwright writes that, Ms. Page "has been writing since she first learned to hold a pencil as a child in the Devon port of Bideford, but seldom ventured publicly beyond poems and magazine articles." (He also describes the nonagenarian's book as "raunchy.") The Daily Mail follows up with Ms. Page saying almost literally, "It seems I've been writing for a hundred years." Everyone, including The Mirror, is reporting that Ms. Page is spending whatever proceeds she earnes from the book (which is being put out by a self-publishing outfit) on a house where she and her elderly friends can live independently of nursing homes: "It would be lovely to give a home and family life to one or two people who would otherwise be sitting around in homes." BBC has a video.

Last year, McSweeney's published Bowl of Cherries the first novel by then 90-year-old author Millard Kaufman, who had a long career as a Hollywood film and television writer. Maybe old is the new young?