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Jackie Collins was such a well-loved English romance novelist that it still seems shocking that’s it’s been more than a year since her passing. Of the 32 books that she wrote, all of them appeared on The New York Times Bestseller’s List. Collectively, her books have sold more than 500 million copies in 40 languages.
So, you could say that she was a hit (and still is)! Her books are still beloved by all her fans, and her kids are carrying on with their mother’s legacy, with the very latest in technology. Her books are being released in digital ebook format, starting with Deadly Embrace, Thrill!, Hollywood Wives, Hollywood Wives: The New Generation, and Hollywood Divorces.
Why Banned Books?
According to the Jackie Collins legend, she’s started to write lots of books, but always given them up. She never pretended to be a “literary writer,” but she tapped into something that readers wanted, even needed. While her husband was calling her a “storyteller,” though, fellow writer, Barbara Cartland, referred to her books as “nasty, filthy and disgusting.”
With sentiments like that, it’s not really shocking that her books were banned in Australia and South America. The controversy surrounding her first novel also fed international sales. Like so many banned books that have come before, you’ve got to be at least a little intrigued by a book that was “bad” and scandalous enough to be banned for explicit content.
She once said, “There are so many bad boys out there, especially in Hollywood. And yes, I know so many of them. I loved writing about them, and you love reading about them. Unfortunately, that type attracts many young, naïve girls who don’t know better, but I do. With age comes experience.”
RIP Jackie
Collins was beloved for her stories, but she kept her personal struggles very much a secret. She’d been reportedly fighting breast cancer for six years, but she never told even those closest to her, including her sister. As she told People, “I just felt [Joan] didn’t need it in her life. She’s very positive and very social but I’m not sure how strong she is, so I didn’t want to burden her with it.”
Yes, she was a “true inspiration,” as her family said at the time of her death. But, what seems even more real and poignant is the way she did it her own way. After all, if she’d listened to the critics and all the challengers to her life and fiction, she wouldn’t have published a single page. She once referred to herself as a “high school dropout who eavesdrops.”
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