Ripley, Alexandra

▪ 2005

Alexandra Braid 

      American writer (b. Jan. 8, 1934, Charleston, S.C.—d. Jan. 10, 2004, Richmond, Va.), wrote Scarlett (1991), the officially sanctioned sequel to Gone with the Wind (1936), after having established her career with a number of best-selling historical novels set in the South, including Charleston (1981), On Leaving Charleston (1984), and New Orleans Legacy (1987). Although Scarlett was panned by critics, it nevertheless became a best seller and was eventually translated into more than a dozen languages. In 1994 CBS paid more than $8 million (then a record) for the rights to shoot a miniseries based on Ripley's book, and it was aired later that year.

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