I am also suspicious, but maybe I'm just a grumpy old fogey. For one, is she really senile? I have not followed her life story. The explanation just sounds unbelievable. Like a plot a novelist would write. I just can't believe that a manuscript, which was apparently submitted to, and accepted by, the publisher way back when, could have remained secret, lost and forgotten all these years. What editor forgets about an accepted ms after s/he has suggested another book based on it? What author forgets her first novel, after its prequel becomes one of the biggest bestsellers of all time?
Colour me sceptical. What I think could have happened in that the publisher appointed a ghost writer to write it in her name. This happens all the time with famous writers, though usually posthumously. If she is really senile all kinds of things could be said and done in her name, for the sake of Mammon; but obviously, they couldn't have her writing a sequel now, with all the rumours of senility. So they just backdate it and come up with the secret-hidden-ms story that author and editor forgot about entirely, instead of, you know, looking for it once tkamb became a success. But yes, I'm just a grumpy old fogey with a dirty mind.
