LONDON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Best-selling novelist Rona Jaffe has died while on vacation in London at age 73.
Jaffe, whose work was a "chick-lit" precursor to "Sex and the City" and "Bridget Jones Diary" type stories, died Dec. 30, The Washington Post reported.
Jaffe started her career as a file clerk for a New York book publisher. She left in her mid-20s and five months later finished her first "hot" women's novel, "The Best of Everything," which was successful as well as scandalous in 1958, the Post noted. The 1959 film starred Joan Crawford, Hope Lange and Suzy Parker.
Despite being panned by critics, many of Jaffe's books became bestsellers including "Class Reunion," "Mr. Right is Dead," "Mazes and Monsters," "The Cousins" and "Five Women."
She established the Rona Jaffe Foundation in 1995, which has presented more than $500,000 in awards to promising young women writers. It is believed to be the only national literary award exclusively for women, the Post said.
