We Regret to Inform You... Spring 1955: From a series entitled Zora the Unvanquished. The original caption read: ‘For 30 years, 72-year-old Zora Raeburn wrote novels and sent them to publishers. With not one acceptance, she never despaired. In her flat near the British Museum in London, where she let two rooms to pay the rent, she typed innumerable letters to publishers, libraries, film studios and radio producers. She begged on her cello in London streets then took a job as a shorthand typist to supplement her old age pension and published one of her books herself.’ Photo shows Zora with a montage of the rejection letters she received from publishers. Photograph: Ken Russell/TopFoto