Belva Plain (October 9, 1915 – October 12, 2010), née Offenberg,
was a
best-selling
A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
of mainstream fiction.
Biography
Belva Offenberg was a third-generation Jewish American who was raised in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
[
] She graduated from
Barnard College
Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
in 1939 with a degree in
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
.
Plain lived in the
Short Hills section of
Millburn, New Jersey
Millburn is a suburban township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the township's population was 20,149, reflecting an increase of 384 (+1.9%) from the 19,765 counted in the 2000 Census, which had ...
.
Before breaking into publishing, Belva Plain wrote short stories for magazines while raising her three children. She sold her first story to ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
'' at age 25 and "contributed several dozen to various women's magazines until she had three children in rapid succession."
[ Her first novel, ''Evergreen'', was published in 1978. It topped the '']New York Times Bestseller List
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
'' for 41 weeks and was made into a TV miniseries.[
'']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' summed up her career Strong-willed women, many of them Jewish and red-haired as well, appear again and again in Ms. Plain’s fiction. Some of her novels use historical settings — “Crescent City,” published in 1984, was set in the Jewish community of Civil War-era New Orleans. Other books tell stories about contemporary issues, sometimes inspired by the headlines — divorce (“Promises”), adoption (“Blessings”), child sexual abuse (“The Carousel”) or babies accidentally switched at birth (“Daybreak”). All of them are full of passion, but there is very little explicit sex.
At her death, there were over 30 million copies of her twenty-plus novels in print in 22 languages.[ Twenty-one of her novels appeared on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list.][ Plain did not own a computer, and wrote all of her novels long-hand on a yellow pad.][
]
Personal life
Plain was married to her husband, Irving Plain, for more than forty years. He died in 1982. She died on October 12, 2010, at her home in Short Hills, New Jersey
Short Hills is an unincorporated community located within Millburn Township, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a popular commuter town for residents who work in New York City. As of the 2020 United States Census, the CDP's pop ...
.
Bibliography
Werner Family Saga
* ''Evergreen'' (1978)
* ''Golden Cup'' (1986)
* ''Tapestry'' (1988)
* ''Harvest'' (1990)
* ''Heartwood'' (2011)
Novels
* ''Random Winds'' (1980)
* ''Eden Burning'' (1982)
* ''Crescent City'' (1984)
* ''Blessings'' (1989)
* ''Treasures'' (1992)
* '' Whispers'' (1993)
* ''Daybreak'' (1994)
* ''The Carousel'' (1995)
* ''Promises'' (1996)
* '' Secrecy'' (1997)
* ''Homecoming'' (1997)
* ''Legacy of Silence'' (1998)
* ''Fortune's Hand'' (1999)
* ''After the Fire'' (2000)
* ''Looking Back'' (2001)
* '' Her Father's House'' (2002)
* ''The Sight of the Stars'' (2003)
* ''Crossroads'' (2004)
References
External links
Belva Plain Official Website
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Plain, Belva
American women writers
Jewish American writers
Writers from New Jersey
Writers from New York City
1915 births
2010 deaths
People from Millburn, New Jersey
Barnard College alumni
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American women