Frothy romance novelist Barbara Cartland died Sunday at the age of 98. The prolific author, who was also grandmother to the late Princess Diana, turned out 2 books a week. That amounted to 723 books, with sales of 1 billion in 36 languages. All her books featured young virginal heroines, who are swept off their feet by a dashing hero, married, and live happily ever after. Cartland, who received dozens of proposals in her youth, espoused celibacy before marriage. Describing her engagement to a handsome suitor, she said, "I said to my mother: 'I think you had better tell me how you have babies' -- I had no idea at all. When she told me, I broke off the engagement at once!"
Passage: Barbara Cartland, 98
Frothy romance novelist Barbara Cartland died Sunday at the age of 98. The prolific author, who was also grandmother to the late Princess Diana, turned out 2 books a week. That amounted to 723 books, with sales of 1 billion in 36 languages. All her books featured young virginal heroines, who are swept off their feet by a dashing hero, married, and live happily ever after. Cartland, who received dozens of proposals in her youth, espoused celibacy before marriage. Describing her engagement to a handsome suitor, she said, "I said to my mother: 'I think you had better tell me how you have babies' -- I had no idea at all. When she told me, I broke off the engagement at once!"
