Paperbacks’ new chapter
With her book, A Daughter’s Choice As 18-year-old A WIDOW has become the world’s oldest novelist after writing her wartime love story, at the age of 93.
Margaret Ford’s book, A Daughter’s Choice, is based on 633 romantic letters between her and late husband, Jim, while he was away fighting.
It starts in 1926 with her birth in a Lancashire town and ends when she marries Jim in 1946. Margaret told how Jim would write three letters a day to her while serving with the Border Regiment.
She said: “It’s amazing to have my story out there. I have 633 letters from my husband which formed the basis of the story.
“It became about my life. It builds up the point where a boy falls in love and stays in love.
“The letters are still very important to me today, they’re very special.”
The book, which took three years to write, tells how Margaret met Jim while
he was home on leave from Burma as the Second World War neared its end. She said: “I was at a dance when I saw Jim walk in. The two of us got talking. We got on very well indeed.”
But Margaret’s book also recounts a relationship she had with an American military medic called Hank, who arrived in Britain for D-Day. But it broke down as she did not want to move to the States with him.
After tying the knot with Jim, Margaret, of Blackburn, followed him to Egypt and Singapore. She opened military bookshops to pass time.
Jim died in 2013 and Margaret decided to pen an account of their life together. Proceeds from the book will go to Cancer Research UK. And she is now thinking of writing a sequel. Margaret added: “It’s amazing how many stories you have.” CUTE Aged 4 in Blackburn PAPERBACKS are making a comeback as millennials prefer them to e-books, a study has revealed.
Market analysts Mintel found 56% of Brits bought a book in the past 12 months, up 5% on the previous year.
And it is the 25-34 age group that is leading the revival with 68% buying Margaret and Jim in 1947. Left, letter novels and reference books from independent stores.
The number of Brits buying e-books has remained static at 22%.
Mintel’s Rebecca McGrath said: “Consumers’ dislike for reading on devices will be very difficult for the e-book format to overcome.”