Alexandra Ripley
Alexandra Ripley (née Braid; January 8, 1934 – January 10, 2004) was an American writer best known as the author of Scarlett (1991), written as a sequel to Gone with the Wind. Her first novel was Who's the Lady in the President's Bed? (1972). Charleston (1981), her first historical novel, was a bestseller, as were her next books On Leaving Charleston (1984), The Time Returns (1985), and New Orleans Legacy (1987).
Biography
Born Alexandra Elizabeth Braid in Charleston, South Carolina, she attended the elite Ashley Hall and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1955 with a major in Russian language.[1] She was thrice wed; from 1958 to 1963 to Leonard Ripley,[2] an early partner and recording engineer at Elektra Records, from 1971 to 1981 to Thomas Martin Garlock (1929–2008), and in 1981 to John Vincent Graham (1926–2007), a former professor at the University of Virginia, from whom she was legally separated at the time of her death.
She died of natural causes at her home in Richmond, Virginia, and is survived by two daughters.[1]
Selected works
- Novels
- 1972: Who's the Lady in the President's Bed? (as B.K. Ripley)
- 1981: Charleston
- 1984: On Leaving Charleston
- 1985: The Time Returns
- 1987: New Orleans Legacy
- 1991: Scarlett
- 1994: From Fields of Gold
- 1997: A Love Divine
- Non-fiction
- 1974: Caril (as B.K. Ripley, with Nanette Beaver & Patrick Trese)
References
- ^ a b Gilpin, Kenneth N. (27 January 2004). "Alexandra Ripley, 'Scarlett' Author, Dies at 70". The New York Times.
- ^ "Alexandra Ripley, Author of 'Scarlett', the best-selling sequel to Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone With the Wind'". The Independent. 31 January 2004.
