Melissa Jane Nathan (13 June 1968 – 7 April 2006) was a journalist for about 12 years and then started writing comedy novels in 1998. She was a popular UK author of "

chick lit Chick lit is a term used to describe a type of popular fiction targeted at younger women. Widely used in the 1990s and 2000s, the term has fallen out of fashion with publishers while writers and critics have rejected its inherent sexism. Novels id ...

" novels in the early 2000s. She was born and raised in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, and educated at

Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls Haberdashers' Girls' School is an independent day school in Elstree, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as "Habs" (or "Habs Girls" to distinguish it from the neighbouring Haberdashers' Boys' School). The school was founded in 1875 by the Wo ...

Elstree Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about northwest of central London on the former A5 road, that follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of the ...

. When working on ''Persuading Annie'' (2001), Nathan was diagnosed with breast cancer. She refused to let the illness dominate her life, and – in public anyway – was unfailingly positive. She had no time for most journalism written by cancer sufferers: "self-indulgent dirges without a helpline in sight", as she described them; she tried to joke about cancer's unoriginality in her ''

Jewish Chronicle Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

'' column and then added: Ironically, the characters in Nathan's first book, ''Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field'', were starring in a play version of ''Pride & Prejudice'' that benefitted breast cancer research. The book was written prior to Nathan knowing about her own future diagnosis with the disease. Her book ''

The Nanny ''The Nanny'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from November 3, 1993, to June 23, 1999, starring Fran Drescher as Fran Fine, a Jewish fashionista from Flushing, Queens, New York, who becomes the nanny of three chi ...

'' was listed on the Top Ten of

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

in 2003. She died aged 37 from breast cancer in April 2006. She is survived by her husband, Andrew Saffron, and their son, Sam. Her final novel, ''The Learning Curve'', was published posthumously in August 2006. A writing award has been established to recognise quality comedy romance writers in her honour.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field'' (2000) * ''Persuading Annie'' (2001) * ''

'' (2003) * ''The Waitress'' (2004) * ''The Learning Curve'' (2006) * ''Acting Up'' (2008) – ''Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field'' renamed and republished.

External links

Guardian obituaryMelissa Nathan FoundationPenguin Books – Melissa Nathan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Melissa 1968 births 2006 deaths Deaths from breast cancer English Jews British chick lit writers British women novelists 21st-century British novelists 21st-century British women writers People educated at Haberdashers' Girls' School