I have some very sad news.
Sometimes the writing community can keep a secret. Quite a few of us have been praying for Penny Jordan, who was taken into hospital over Christmas.
Last night, the last day of 2011, Penny died. She had terminal cancer and she’d been ill for some time.
That’s the official announcement. I’m unutterably saddened by this news. I didn’t know Penny well, but she was a stalwart of the RNA, a great writer and an example to us all. She never lost her sense of humou, or her kindnes, or her amazing elegance. The last time I saw her was at a distance, when she gave a talk to the RNA conference. That was when I learned she was ill, when she arrived and left in short order, where she’d usually have lingered and chatted.
The first time I met her was at an RNA chapter meeting, a convivial lunch. I had one book out with a tiny epublisher, and I’d scraped membership. I still felt like an interloper. She held her hand out, shook mine. “Hello, I’m Penny Jordan.” I felt like an honest-to-goodness writer for the very first time.
The last time we had a good chat, she told me about her Internet village, where she played and wrote stories. She had high hopes for it. Penny was always looking forward. She was kind and chatty with everyone she met and always encouraged new authors, never lost her sense of the new and the exciting.
She wrote for the Mills and Boon Presents line all her career, the one whose bedrock is millionaires and secretaries. That was where she started and she was still writing for the line when she died. She worried about her deadlines in hospital.
She also had books with Mira and a series of family dramas. She wrote under another name, too, Annie Groves. She was Caroline Courtney, who wrote historical romances, and she was Lydia Hitchcock and Melinda Wright. She clocked up an amazing total of 251 books in her career.
Penny was a career author. She started work as a secretary and worked for a number of years, so she knew what that area of work was like before she gave it up to write full time. She started out in the seventies, and she moved with the times, first writing the waif secretary/brutal boss books, and then softening the characters as the readership demanded. She never lost sight of what her readers wanted, and they loved her for it. She has a new book out this month, The Reluctant Surrender.
She never responded to bad reviews or good ones, setting an example many writers, including myself, should remember more often. As well as her work with the RNA, she had her own writing group, where she mentored writers and introduced them to agents and publishers. That’s paying forward in a big way and something she didn’t have to do, but she loved doing it. She also did a lot of work with local charities.
She sold more than 70 million books in her career, worldwide.
Goodbye, Penny. We will miss you.
I am so very sorry to hear about Penny’s passing. I loved reading her work, especially her Annie Groves books, and I’ve introduced them to many of my writing friends. They will be equally sad and sorry to hear of her loss. She was an inspiration to those of us who write and she will be missed.
Oh how sad! I’ve read and enjoyed quite a few of Penny’s books. She will definitely be missed.
I read several of her books and enjoyed them all. She will be missed.
She will be missed.
Wow how amazingly sad. What a loss for her family, her readers and the community. She sounds likes a fabulous person, you are lucky to have met her.
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She will be missed.
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Sybil
Ohh, this is so, so sad.
I never met her but I’ve read all of her books. She was a definate inspiration to me. However, I have met India Grey at a workshop and I know Penny was instrumental in bringing India to the attention of her editor at M&B. India was a member of Penny’s writing group in Nantwich, Cheshire.
The whole writing community, but especially the authors/editors etc., at M&B will be totally devastated by this news. This post is a excellent homage to a wonderful writer and mentor of the genre.
Her loss will leave a huge hole in our community.
Christine
I only met Penny a handful of times, and she was lovely on each occasion. “Quite shy” by her own definition. Every romance writer and reader must be pausing today, to think of her and the family and friends mourning her loss.
Penny will certainly be missed. I’ve read and enjoyed quite a few of her books and still have some of her Caroline Courtney books.
This is such sad news. I’ve been a Penny Jordan fan for years. I read her Caroline Courtney’s, her Mills and Boon books and had started reading her Annie Groves sagas. She was truly one of a kind and a writer whose books have given me so much pleasure over the years. Rest in peace, Penny. Your readers will never forget you or your wonderful books.
Penny Jordan was one of the authors whose books made me fall that much more in love with the world of romance.
She is a talent that will always be missed. 🙁
Very sad news.
carol
Penny will be missed by many!! My thoughts go out to her loved ones she left behind!
Neecy
My condolences to Penny’s friends and family.
Whenever I need a Presents Penny is one of the authors I look for. I have been reading her books since the beginning of her career with Harlequin/Mills & Boon. Browsing the book stores is not going to be the same.
Carolyn
I’m so gutted to hear the news. Penny Jordan was the first author I read and she skillfully made sure i didn’t look back. I remember clearly when my guardian was worried I’d turn into a raving goth back when i was 15 – reading all the horror books – he handed me her book ‘The Friendship Barrier’ and i never looked back. She’s the author who reduced me to tears with Savage Atonement, Loving and Without Trust but gave me the satsifaction of a believable HEA. May she rest in peace – my keeper shelf will miss her additions.
I’m so gutted to hear the news. Penny Jordan was the first author I read and she skillfully made sure i didn’t look back. I remember clearly when my guardian was worried I’d turn into a raving goth back when i was 15 – reading all the horror books – he handed me her book ‘The Friendship Barrier’ and i never looked back. She’s the author who reduced me to tears with Savage Atonement, Loving and Without Trust but gave me the satsifaction of a believable HEA. May she rest in peace – my keeper shelf will miss her additions.
My condolences to all her Family, Friends and Faithful readers.
I knew Penny Jordan because of her willingness to give back to the writing community. Almost 20 years ago, I started a scholarship fund for writers to attend the Romance Writers of America national conference held here in the US, and at first there was only me donating. But I starting contacting friends, and Penny heard and contacted me. For years she donated a scholarship every year. We talk on the phone, shared an editor at HarperCollins in GB, and I adored her. We sent scholarships to writers from Great Britain, and sometime Penny was the one to call them and tell them they;d been awarded one. It breaks my heart we will never meet face to face. But I think in the future, I will continue to donate a yearly scholarship in her name. she will be remembered for her work and for her huge heart.
I’ve read all the stories here and elsewhere with a great deal of emotion. Penny was special to a lot of people. She was frank and honest to a fault, and took her job seriously. I knew she felt strongly about helping the writing community and many charities, but not just how much she did.
A lovely tribute!
This is so sad. At least her books will live on for future readers to enjoy. She seems like she was a lovely lady.