Misfortune

You know who I am. But perhaps you don't know my name: Rose Old. I was unwanted at birth and thrown away, evidence best disposed of. If you consider that, bloodily new to the world, I was bound for a dusty grave and that I was saved only by a distracted boy and a stray dog, it's a miracle that I lived an hour, let alone as long as I have.

Who'd have imagined I'd live to tell the tale, as it were? Fortune patted me on the head at an early age, but it wasn't all walks and treats. We had a complicated relationship. What else do you know? Well, you know I'm alive now, unless I'm telling this story from beyond the grave. I'm Old but I'm not that old and I am not going to die in my story (unless I do it with the last full stop -- that would be acceptable; after all, I haven't finished yet and I can't see the future any more clearly than you can). Rose Old, alive.

Educated at Cambridge, Wesley Stace (also known as John Wesley Harding) cut short his Ph.D. studies to pursue a music career. He has released 8 solo albums and toured as the opening act for The Mighty Lemon Drops, Michelle Shocked, and Bruce Springsteen. His novel, Misfortune, was published by Little, Brown in 2004. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.