Louise Dean's "The Old Romantic"

Louise Dean's novels include Becoming Strangers, which was awarded the Betty Trask Prize in 2004 and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award, This Human Season, and The Idea of Love. She lives in Kent, England.

Here she shares a casting suggestion for the main role should her new novel The Old Romantic be adapted for the big screen:

Michael Caine is the only real contender for the lead role, the ‘Estuary’ accent, the British flinching peevishness, the sly sentimentality - he’s the man. I sent him a copy of the book in homage and supplication, but I’ve had no reply. I get the occasional plea too, as it happens, offering me hundreds of millions of dollars if only I will send just a few hundred to a bank account in Ghana. I always reply, most cordially, to each and everyone, and have a lot of email friends with surnames for christian names who use capitals to convey their excitement.

Learn more about the book and author at the publisher's website and Louise Dean's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Old Romantic.

Writers Read: Louise Dean.

--Marshal Zeringue