Vival Publications

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Across Atlantic Airwaves

“I feel I may have come into this world with a whimper, but it looks as if I may be going out with a bang!!”

So said my 98-year-old great-aunt to me after being interviewed for an American podcast. Not that this was her first interview, nor, hopefully, the last. But there’s no doubt that the past year has been quite a roller-coaster ride for this remarkable debut novelist.

Born in 1923, Tonie Scott Ritchie has had a long and adventurous life. Married to a Naval Surgeon, she and her five children lived all over the globe. And without doubt it’s been a life lived to the full. A life, as with so many of us, filled with a never-ending mix of  joy, tragedy, challenge, bad times and good times. All ingredients that can fire imagination and creativity. As they have with Tonie Ritchie.

And that’s a great example and inspiration to everyone. No matter the circumstances, it’s never too late!

You can listen to Tonie’s interview here:  Old Women Who Write Interview

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It’s never too late – Creativity in later life

Flora Campbell 1921

As Albert Einstein commented, “Creativity is intelligence having fun!” And being creative – whatever form that creativity may take – is a vital ingredient in life. It’s a vital ingredient whoever you are, whatever age you may be. If we’re not creative we’re in danger of becoming passive, lazy in our thinking and in our living. Creativity comes from within us, but then takes us out of ourselves. And that’s no bad thing.

It’s especially important the older we become, when much of what we once took for granted becomes less easy. When we are, unavoidably, more limited in what we can do and where we can go. Being creative makes these limitations far more bearable.

Tonie Ritchie 1947

Bette Davies once said, “Old age ain’t for cissies!” And it’s true. As our bodies start their slow decline, we inevitably face a multitude of new challenges, both physical and mental. But fortunately what we mean by ‘old’ is changing. Particularly noticeable is how we look when we grow older. Previous generations aged more quickly and died younger. Life was harder, food scarcer, homes colder, daily chores more draining, families larger, health care more limited. But now we live longer and we have the means, and the freedom, to look and dress very differently. Dress codes have changed dramatically. I don’t think my grandmother ever wore a pair of trousers in her life, my mother sometimes did, but I seldom wear anything else. And you have to ask yourself, why did it matter so much?

Tonie Ritchie: debut author at 97!

There are two members of my family who’ve certainly proved that being creative doesn’t have a sell-by date. One is my great-aunt, who at the age of 97 completed the manuscript of a novel, Spur of Light, which was published last November as both an ebook and a paperback! That’s been a huge boost to her both mentally and physically. Good news tends to have that effect!

Another long-lived relative of mine, was the poet Flora Garry (1900-2000). In the 1940s she wrote plays and was an occasional contributor to national papers. This was also when she started to write poetry, often in the local Buchan dialect, but it wasn’t until she was in her seventies that her first collection was published, with her final collection appearing when she was 95. At the age of 98, she was made a Master of the University of Aberdeen, the principal, Professor Duncan Rice, visiting her in her retirement home in Comrie, to confer the honour on her.

Flora Garry 1976

Like Tonie, and my grandmother Eveline Kellas, all three of them strong Aberdeenshire women, Flora remained creative and firing on all cylinders until the very end. So while there may be some who feel that age devalues us, I certainly don’t agree. Nor did Flora, whose self-penned epitaph read: “Here lies Flora Garry much against her will.”

The relationship between aging and creativity is a fascinating and complex one. Much wider, and, I believe, more important, than we often realise. And one that I look at in this month’s iScot article: It’s Never too Late! And that goes for us all!

iScot issue 70, February/March 2021

 

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Tonie Ritchie: An inspiration to us all

There are few things better than a good news story – and this has to be one of the best! When I posted news of my great-aunt’s debut novel on Facebook and Twitter, a novel completed at the age of 97 no less, I could never have foreseen the extraordinary outpouring of congratulations and good wishes it would give rise to. But more than that, there was a huge tide of thanks, and appreciation, from people to whom she has given hope. Her achievement has encouraged so many others.

Shortly after the publication of Spur of Light, I was contacted by Denny Andonova, a young reporter with the Press and Journal, a newspaper that serves the north and east of Scotland. She was keen to interview Tonie and find out the story behind the writing of the novel. Tonie was born in Aberdeen and grew up in Huntly, so has a strong connection to that area and was delighted that there was interest in the book from her old stomping ground.

Yet the comments and good wishes came from all around the globe. And from some quite unexpected sources, including one from Iseult White, grandaughter of Sean MacBride, a founder of Amnesty International, who wrote, “Tell her we love her. She is an inspiration!!!”

The responses were a delight to read: “She’s inspirational, just what I needed to hear about right now. Just a little bit more than half her age, and having an internal crisis about the future, and what I’ve achieved. This has really cheered me. Hope she’s planning a sequel?”

And they came from such an assortment of people: readers, writers, would-be-authors, young and old, male and female, a Guardian journalist, a researcher for LBC radio – people of every shape, size and colour sent their congratulations. It was wonderful!

“Respect! She is a real role model for hundred thousand writers who find lifetime excuses for procrastination or renunciation to writing itself.” “Blessing & inspiration, Lady! You deserve the best of everything! Thank you for brightening our day!”  “What an achievement! And a reminder it’s never too late for anything!”

And it isn’t! At that age you often live life through your children and grandchildren, which makes it all the more special that she has an achievement of her own to celebrate. And it’s great that her achievement has been an inspiration and a blessing to so many others.

 

So there you have it, a good news story that has been a positive encouragement to many others, at a time when good news is all too thin on the ground.  And a story that brings people closer together, even if they’ve never met. Tonie’s is a remarkable achievement, and here’s a fitting comment, all the way from Tokyo, to end with: “Say hi to Tonie for me! Tell her I love her!”

Spur of Light by Tonie Ritchie is available from Amazon as both an ebook and a paperback.

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Nonagenarian Novelists : Spur of Light by Tonie Ritchie

I created a new hashtag on social media yesterday, #NonagenarianNovelists. I created it to celebrate the publication of a debut novel written by my amazing 97-year-old great-aunt! Aberdeen-born and Huntly-bred, Tonie Ritchie completed her first novel this year. A great achievement for anyone, let alone a nonagenarian!

The novel, Spur of Light, was begun after attending a creative writing course on the Scottish island of Iona in 2002, but lay unfinished for many years until Tonie’s eldest daughter encouraged her to finish it and now, at the age of 97, she has finally completed the task.

Tonie’s life certainly hasn’t been quiet or uneventful. Just the opposite in fact. And perhaps that’s where some of the ideas in her novel came from! She was born in Aberdeen in 1923 and grew up in Huntly, attending Gordon School until she was 16. She then worked for the Clydesdale Bank before joining the WRNS (Women’s Royal Naval Service) in 1943. She lived in Hong Kong, Malta and Gibraltar with her husband Jimmy, who was a Naval Surgeon Captain, and while in Hong Kong she worked for BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) as a radio announcer. They had five children – at one point she was left looking after them all plus two aged parents while her husband was away at sea.

She now lives in Plymouth where she’d returned in 1990 after Jimmy died. She then studied English at GCSE and A Level, before taking up creative writing and having several short stories and poems published.

When I was a child one of my favourite books was Joyce Lankester Brisley’s Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories. Milly-Molly-Mandy, properly Millicent Margaret Amanda, had a great-aunt and I envied Milly-Molly-Mandy for this. Imagine my delight, therefore, when I discovered that I had a great-aunt of my own! Though there, it has to be said, the similarity ended, for while Mily-Molly-Mandy’s Great Aunt Margaret was a “little, little white-haired lady in a black bonnet and dress spotted with little mauve flowers,” mine was the complete opposite. Not remotely a little old lady, but rather a woman of great energy and full of fun and laughter, my Great Aunt Tonie.

Tonie and Vivien in Plymouth, September 2019

Tonie and my Great Uncle Jimmy seemed very exotic to us. They had travelled the world and had many marvellous tales to tell. Including terrifying encounters with the Triad in China, where, despite living through events that could vie with The Third Man for their menace, they lived to tell the tale. Perhaps even ruthless Chinese gangsters recognised that Aberdeenshire folk have iron in their souls!

Now, very many years later, Tonie has another tale to tell and this is it, Spur of Light, her first novel, completed at the age of 97. A remarkable achievement by a remarkable woman.

Spur of Light is published by Vival Publications and is available from Amazon both as an ebook and a paperback.

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History in the Time of Covid: memory, identity and the importance of recording our history

My mother aged 16

Just think for a moment about what makes each one of us a unique individual. It’s our memories. And just think how tragic it is when we lose those, when dementia strikes and robs us of who we are. Author Julian Barnes wrote, “Memory is identity….You are what you have done; what you have done is in your memory; what you remember defines who you are; when you forget your life you cease to be, even before your death.”

A few years ago I lost my mother to cancer. Yet in some ways I’d lost her to Alzheimer’s before that. I’m sure many others have gone through the same loss. As her memories went, the person she was gradually slipped away. It’s a terrible thing to happen. I remember vividly the day she looked at me and asked “What did your mother do?” “A good question!” I replied, trying not to cry. That comment however, spurred me to write a biography of her life. I contacted those who had known her at different stages of her life: growing up in India, teaching in one of the toughest schools in Glasgow, as well as in schools in London and Shetland, travelling to Bosnia in the wake of that terrible war, campaigning in local elections in Edinburgh. For a time, even as her memories gradually disappeared, looking at what she called “The Book”, helped her cope with what was happening to her, reminded her for a while of the person she had been and the life she had led. Words and images that spoke of her history, and offered brief respites from that insidious disease that was slowly but surely robbing her of her identity.

I’ve written about these issues before, but feel they’re worth revisiting because loss of identity doesn’t only apply to individuals, but also to nations. If we lose our collective memories we lose our identity as a people. What is it that makes us who we are? What are the experiences that shape and define us? The circumstances that create our beliefs and values? What are the factors that have made Scotland the country it is today; the country we call home?

Intriguing questions that lead in turn to the question of how we preserve our identity, both as individuals and as nations. How do we protect the integrity of our past, our history, our heritage? Why are some people and events remembered and celebrated, while others are brushed to one side, forced into obscurity? And why did so many of us in Scotland grow up with so little knowledge of the rich history of our own country?

In this month’s iScot article I look at all these fascinating issues and at the wealth of places that exist that make it possible for us to know more about our past and, by extension, ourselves. If we hope to create a better future for ourselves and our country, we have to not only be able to make sense of the present but also to understand the role of the past in our lives. Our history is preserved in a myriad of ways. The more we learn about it, the more we want to know. And it’s all just waiting for us out there!

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Death in Tallinn

The computer keyboard is getting well worn! From the author of The Peat Dead and The Dead of Jura, comes the first book in a spectacular new series – Death in Tallinn.

Set in a newly independent Estonia, poised precariously between the growing threat of Nazi Germany and the menace of the Soviet Union, Chief Inspector Jüri Hallmets has to tread a fine line between political opponents. A man of integrity, he’s determined to see justice done. But that’s not always as straightforward as it might seem.

The 1930s were a time of great unrest and turmoil throughout Europe. The so-called War to End All Wars seemed to have failed to be just that. Stormclouds were everywhere and the rumblings of future conflicts never far away.  In the midst of this, the small republic of Estonia is trying to find its feet and decide what sort of country it wants to be after centuries of foreign suzerainty.

Against this backdrop, Tartu-based Chief Inspector Jüri Hallmets is invited to head north to Tallinn to take over the investigation of the suspicious death of a senior policeman. But his presence is not welcomed by all.

To mark the launch of Death in Tallinn, Sharpe Books are offering, for a limited period only, the eBook at a special discounted price of 99p! Details here:  Death in Tallinn