Fern Michaels (born Mary Ruth Kuczkir; April 9, 1933) is an American writer of romance and thriller novels. Her books include Family Blessings, Pretty Woman, and Crown Jewel, as well as the Texas quartet and the Captive series.

Biography

Fern Michaels is the pen name of Mary Ruth Kuczkir, who was born in Hastings, Pennsylvania on April 9, 1933. Michaels married, moved to New Jersey, and had five children. When the youngest entered school in 1973, her husband told her to get a job. Since she was unsure of how to get a job, Michaels decided to try writing a book. Her husband was not very supportive of her efforts, and consequently, they separated. Although her first manuscript did not sell, the second did. Since then, Michaels has sold over 150 best-selling books, 110 million copies in print along with 153 New York Times best sellers of them New York Times bestsellers. She has been quoted as saying that she loves breathing life into her characters. She has said she loves writing books about women who prevail under difficult circumstances, which she feels reflect her struggle for success early in her career. For her efforts, she has been inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. When she was a girl, Michaels's grandmother told her "when God is good to you, you have to give back". With this in mind, she founded the Fern Michaels Foundation, which grants four year scholarships for deserving students. In addition to that, she has also helped establish pre-school and day care programs with affordable rates for single mothers. Michaels currently lives in Summerville, South Carolina, in a 300-year-old plantation house listed in the Historic Registry. She claims to share the house with a ghost named Mary Margaret (which had also been documented by the previous owners). Mary Margaret is said to leave messages on her computer.

Captives

Note: Captive Innocence (1981) is not part of this series. It is a separate novel.

Texas

Sins

Vegas

Kentucky

Sisterhood

Cisco

The Godmothers

Men of the Sisterhood

Stand Alone Novels

Omnibuses/Collections

Sources