It’s Never Too Late

If you’ve ever told yourself it’s too late to start working on that book, Harry Bernstein might provide you with some inspiration.

Bernstein’s debut work, a memoir called The Invisible Wall is gathering nothing but raves and followers. This in itself is not newsworthy: these things happen. Here’s what sets Bernstein apart: this debut author is 96 years old.

In a starred review, Booklist said that The Invisible Wall is “a groundbreaking story of family secrets and forbidden love told in plain, beautiful prose through the eyes of a young Jewish boy, Harry, growing up in an English working-class neighborhood near Manchester on the eve of World War I. On one side of the street are the Jews; on the other side are the Christians. There is no violent hostility like the pogroms that drove Harry’s parents from Eastern Europe, but an invisible wall keeps the two sides totally separate.”

And The Invisible Wall won’t be a one-off: this debut novelist has almost finished a second book and a third is in the planning stage. Says AP:

Now that he’s got the hang of book writing, Bernstein says he could probably write a few more and is considering writing about his marriage. His second book, The Dream, is almost finished and centers on the family’s move to the United States; Ballantine has already signed on as the American publisher.

You can read the full article here.