Author Belva Plain dies at 95

NEW YORK - Author Belva Plain, who shot to prominence with the novel “Evergreen” in 1978 after decades of writing short stories for women’s magazines, has died aged 95, according to a statement Monday from her daughter.

The novel, which was turned into a TV mini-series, was about a beautiful Jewish immigrant who falls in love with one man before marrying another.

The book was on the New York Times bestseller list for almost a year. More than 25 million copies of her books have been sold, and her last novel “Crossroads” was published in 2008.

“I got sick of reading the same old story, told by Jewish writers, of the same old stereotypes - the possessive mothers, the worn-out fathers, all the rest of the neurotic rebellious unhappy self-hating tribe,” she told the Times about her motivations for writing “Evergreen”.

“I wanted to write a different novel about Jews - and a truer one.”

Shortly before her death, Plain reportedly finished a sequel to Evergreen, which will be published next year.

Born in New York City in 1915, Plain was a third-generation American of German-Jewish descent. She died in her New Jersey home Oct 12, according to the statement from her daughter, Barbara Plain.