This ... Is ... The ... Year ... At ... Last!  Many have not died waiting.

This year Act 3: The Art of Growing Older is published, and not a moment before time . . . and as a kind and gentle subscriber you will be getting your copy way ahead of everyone else of course, in February. So, thank you for your patience.

A very few people have already seen the book in proof form and said some lovely things about it:

Your head says you’re 34. Your body begs to differ. Wise up young codgers! Try these useful and inspiring stories and feel better instantly.  

– Simon Mayo, broadcaster and author.

As proof of my Act 3 age and stage I'm prepared to confess to you that I (Adrian) wrote one of these updates to you a year ago - and forgot to press 'send'. True dat. It's still sitting in the pending file.

A highlight of 2019 has been getting to know Australian national treasure Michael Leunig, who has kindly supplied some cartoons for the book and said this about it:

Judy and Adrian Reith here guide us wisely and cheerfully into the wonderland of old age. Forget adventure tourism, here is a way to plan for a more amazing expedition. 

Most of us will go on this journey, many of us will find epiphany, creativity and liberation there - to say nothing of pleasures and mysteries undreamt of. As the Reiths clearly explain, this journey can be done happily and wonderfully well. Step into these pages, fasten your seatbelts and prepare for the trip of a lifetime: the sublime astonishing experience we have all been waiting for and wondering about.

– Michael Leunig, Australian cartoonist, poet and cultural commentator.

And though we might not win any awards for speed of publishing, our timing is still good in bringing our book to the shops in the good company of Carl Honoré who has recently published Bolder: Making the Most of Our Longer Lives. You probably know him from from his international best seller In Praise of Slow.

With more and more us living better for longer than ever before, the idea of being on the ‘wrong side of 50’ is way past its sell-by date. Act 3: The Art of Growing Older is therefore a book for our times. With the right blend of insight and inspiration, tips and tools, Judy and Adrian Reith show how we can all make the most of later life.

– Carl Honoré, author of Bolder: Making the Most of Our Longer Lives.

Meanwhile, if you're looking for a cheerful graphic novel on the topic of old age and death, you might consider the famously grumpy old man and author of The Snowman, Raymond Briggs (85), who starts his newest book Time For Lights Out with this:

"Maketh up a quote at ye beginning of they book;

'twill make people think thou art clever."

– Christopher Marlowe, The Obscure Tragedie, Act II, Scene II

Go ahead and read his book, but please don't die before you get ours.