Barbara Cartland (1901 – 2000)

Barbara Cartland was one of the most prolific and commercially successful authors of the 20th century.

In her lifetime she published 723 novels, and also wrote health books, plays, music and drama, and was a well-known philanthropist.

After a year as a gossip columnist for the Daily Express, Cartland published her first novel, Jigsaw, in 1923. This risque society thriller was a best-seller. In 1976 she wrote 23 novels, gaining her the Guinness World Record for most novels written in a year. The 1970s and 1980s were a very prolific era for her as well, more than 50 years into her writing career. By the mid-1990s she had sold over a billion books.

Barbara Cartland died in her sleep on May 21, 2000, just before her 90th birthday. She left behind a series of 160 unpublished novels.

Books by Barbara Cartland