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I think whether a word was in common usage or not 50 years ago should not matter in a book where the author is already making up words for days, months etc.
FWIW - I can't remember in my school days 40+ years ago being proscribed (but then we were never really formally taught grammar), but equally I can't remember a time when I didn't think of they as an acceptable singular pronoun. Not in every circumstance but where the sex of the person is unknown, e.g. "a person walking on ice should take care so that they don't slip" or "I don't know who this Casey Smith is but they can certainly write". Anyway it doesn't feel like a modern innovation to me.
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