32 new this week · 3,571 honest reviews · 203 author interviews · 200K+ readersAboutWrite for usContact
Home / New releases / November 2026 / Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?
Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? by Judi Dench book coverOut in 17 days
MemoirNonfictionBiographyAutobiographyBiography MemoirHistory

Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?

by Judi Dench

NOV3Tue
Publishes Tuesday 3 November 2026Hardcover · St. Martin's Press · 368 pagesSee everything out in November 2026 →
Pre-order on Amazon ↗

As an Amazon Associate, The Bookish Elf earns from qualifying purchases.

About the book

From the publisher

Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea chat about her life on the stage, on the screen, and, above all, behind the scenes…

In Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea take us on a heartfelt and hilarious tour of her extraordinary life and career. From growing up in York and being miffed at not getting the part of Mary in the school Nativity play, to playing before sold-out houses on Broadway and in London’s West End, she’s done it all. She walked the red carpets of Hollywood, turned James Bond’s M into the most astute, unflinching Head of MI6 anyone could ever have imagined, and won an Oscar, a Tony, Golden Globes, Oliviers, and BAFTAs along the way.

Yet despite the accolades, she has been accompanied by doubt. From the movie producer who said she had “everything wrong” with her face, to the theatre director who advised her against doing sitcom. Is it any wonder she leaves a bag by the rehearsal room door in case she has to make a run for it?

But stepping out of her comfort zone has been Judi’s guiding principle and in Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, she reveals all to Brendan - her friend and writing partner. She tells stories of pranks (both onstage and off), dissects her greatest screen roles, shares tales of her joyful marriage to actor Michael Williams, and talks about her passion for nature and animals.

As told to Brendan O’Hea, this is Judi Dench’s story – funny, honest, intimate, enlightening, surprising, moving, and deeply inspiring. Over ninety years in the making, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? is the story of the world’s most beloved actor.

Description supplied by the publisher.

✎
Not reviewed yet

We haven’t read Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.

Out the same day

Also publishing 3 November

More Nonfiction

More nonfiction out in November