At the age of 84 Elizabeth Lord has just published her 24th novel. Her books have sold all over the world, including in America and even Russia. Meet the octogenarian author who thinks Fifty Shades of Grey is too boring. She proves entering your twilight years is no barrier to producing a cracking romantic read.

 

 

 

ELIZABETH Lord’s real life wouldn’t be out of place among the plot from one of her many novels.

Widowed at the age of 26, just days before she was about to give birth to her second child, she was left alone to bring up two children for 13 years, before finally finding love again.

The only difference is Elizabeth’s books are mainly set in the early half of the 20th century – an era she loves because of its outward innocence and where women were women!

Despite her ups and downs, the gran-of-four has become a super-successful author.

Since the late 1980’s when she released her first book, readers across the globe have snapped up her stories about East End sagas, historical fiction and romantic trysts.

Crime writer Ruth Rendell has even praised Elizabeth, who has lived in Billericay for many years as “a natural storyteller”.

Elizabeth, whose real name is Ivy Lord, began her career writing romantic stories for magazines during the Seventies, but she’d always had a flair for writing, penning her first ‘play’ at the age of nine.

But it took yet another traumatic experience, an armed robbery at her home when she was held at gunpoint to really get her career off the ground.

She explained: “Myself and my then seven-year-old daughter were held at gunpoint while our house was ransacked. I was deeply traumatised and my mother suggested I ‘write it out of myself.’ “This I did, putting every aspect of the burglary on to paper. My story was sent to a popular London magazine called Weekend and I was pleased when it was published soon after.

“From there, the editor wanted to see the short stories that I had written.”

After that Elizabeth caught the attention of a publishing house and she’s never looked back.

But with her 24th book, Illusions of Happiness, now even available on Kindle as well as in bookshop and with her 85th birthday looming, is it time for Elizabeth to put the lid on the laptop?

She says: “No way, I will keep going for as long as I can.

“Writing is what I love. It’s my life and I can’t imagine a time when I’ll want to give up.”

For someone who writes about romance and its trappings, life hasn’t always been a bed of wine and roses for Elizabeth.

In 1954 when she was 26 her husband was killed in a freak scaffolding accident at work.

She recalled “I was just days away from having our second child. It was a very difficult time.

“After the accident I got compensation and with the money I bought us a house in Billericay.

“I brought up the children on my own for 13 years then I met another man and we had a child together, but he has also now passed away.”

All authors have their routines and for Elizabeth every morning is dedicated to writing.

She said: “I will type away on my computer from 7am to 1pm every day then my afternoons are devoted to shopping and, meeting friends or working with some of the groups I’m involved with.”

Eager to share her love of writing, Elizabeth leads the Brentwood Writers’ Circle and is also a member of the Billericay Arts group as well as the Romanic Novelist Association, which is where she first met her pal Martina Cole, before they were both published authors.

Elizabeth says: “Martina is wonderful and deserves her amazing success. She hasn't altered one bit. I remember the day she told me she was getting her first publishing deal, she was sitting at the bar with a glass of wine and I gave her a big hug.”

Nostalgia and harking back to more gentlemanly times seem to play a big part in Elizabeth’s library of works.

Her first novel, Shadow of the Protector, was set during the time of Oliver Cromwell, while she also touched on the suffragette movement in her book Give Me Tomorrow.

Most of her works, including All That We Are and From Bow to Bond Street are set during the Twenties up to the Forties and often revolve around strong female characters who struggle through hard times to go from rags to riches.

Elizabeth’s novels have been published as far away as the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Russia. Publishers in Greece once even sent her three complimentary copies of one of her books in Greek, which she has no shame in admitting she couldn’t understand a word of.

Elizabeth is now working on her 25th novel, a family saga which has the working title of “The Quiet One. It will focus on the third of three sisters who is less confident than her outgoing siblings but ends up turning the tables.

She says: “I’m no JK Rowling by any means, but I make a good living. I’m happy with what I’ve got.”

As for the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon and the current climate for books to contain racy plots dubbed “mummy porn”, Elizabeth says it’s not for her.

“Anything that gets people picking up a book is great but to be honest I read Fifty Shades of Grey and found it a bit boring! It’s saucy but nothing that hair-raising,” she said.

“The girls in my stories keep their clothes on. They are from a more innocent time where you didn’t show anything off, but that doesn’t mean that weren’t fiesty. The passion was still there, it was just bubbling under the surface!”

For more information about Elizabeth’s work, visit www.elizabethlord.co.uk