An author proves you're never too old for a happy ending

American novelist Herman Wouk has sold his new book to the publishers at the age of 96 (AP)

Herman Wouk is so old he remembers Simon and Schuster (the people)... which is a good thing because the great American novelist has sold his new book to the publishers at the age of 96.

Wouk was born to Russian parents in New York City in 1915. He went on to serve in the Second World War and won the Pulitzer prize for his 1951 novel, The Caine Mutiny, about life on a US navy warship.

The author's new work, The Lawgiver, tells the story of a group of people filming a contemporary film about Moses. It will appear next week at the London Book Fair after being bought by Simon & Schuster, whose publisher, Jonathan Karp, wrote his masters thesis on Mr Wouk's novels.

"I knew Dick Simon and Max Schuster well," Wouk says in the release announcing The Lawgiver. "Few of my contemporaries can make that statement."

In 1947, Wouk sold his first work, Aurora Dawn, to the publisher, which was founded in New York in 1924. "Returning to their imprint after 64 years is an uncommon pleasure," Wouk adds.

Wouk is revered in America, where he won the first Library of Congress fiction award, later renamed the Herman Wouk award for lifetime achievement in the writing of fiction. Last year, he made a cameo appearance in a short story by Stephen King. It was called: Herman Wouk Is Still Alive.