Bestselling author Rose Tremain, now 83, has published a new novel about Daphne du Maurier and reflects on her seven decades of creative work and why she refuses to retire despite approaching the end of her life. This matters because it addresses broader questions about ageing artists, literary legacy, and whether contemporary readers still value older writers, particularly following Julian Barnes's recent announcement that he was stepping back from writing due to illness.

Of Granta magazine's celebrated list of 20 Best Young British Novelists in 1983, six have since died, including Martin Amis. Tremain survived pancreatic cancer in 2019 and argues that serious writers are driven by the work itself rather than readership or commercial success. Her recent novels—The Gustav Sonata (2016), Islands of Mercy (2020), Lily (2021) and Absolutely and Forever (2023)—have received critical praise and were written with greater creative vigour than her earlier work. She contends that artistic quality need not decline with age, citing David Hockney's philosophy of daily creative engagement as justification for continuing to write.