The Old Un’s Notes

✶ Move over, Dickens and Tolstoy! Dolly Parton is publishing her first novel.

The great country singer has written Run Rose Run, out on 7th March, with the mega-selling American novelist James Patterson.

Rose is ‘a star on the rise, singing about the hard life behind her. She’s also on the run. Find a future, lost a past. Nashville is where she’s come to claim her destiny... Run Rose Run is a novel glittering with danger and desire.’

What energy Dolly, who’s 76 on 19th January, has. She’s also releasing an album of the same name – Run Rose Run – with 12 original songs she was inspired by the book to write and record. Tracks include Firecracker and Big Dreams and Faded Jeans.

What an inspirational idea – for writers to record albums inspired by their books. Still, it’s hard to think of writers with exceptional musical talents like Dolly – though surely Jeffrey Archer must think he has the world’s greatest