“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