Rona Jaffe
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Rona Jaffe (b. June 12, 1932) is a U.S. author.
Born in New York, New York, she wrote her first and most known book, The Best of Everything, while working as an associate editor at Fawcett Publishing in the 1950s. Published in 1958, it was later made into a movie, starring Joan Crawford. The book has been described as distinctly "pre-women's liberation" in the way it depicts women in the working world. Critic Camille Paglia noted in 2004 that the book and popular HBO series Sex and the City had much in common with Jaffe's novel in that the characters, who have similar lifestyles, are both "very much at the mercy of cads."
During the 1960s, in addition to writing more novels, she was hired by Helen Gurley Brown to write cultural pieces for Cosmopolitan. with a "Sex and the Single Girl" slant.
In 1981 her novel Mazes and Monsters became a TV movie starring Tom Hanks.
Books by Rona Jaffe
- The Best of Everything, Simon Schuster (New York, NY), 1958.
- Away from Home, Simon Schuster, 1960.
- The Last of the Wizards (juvenile), Simon Schuster, 1961.
- Mr. Right Is Dead (novella and five short stories), Simon & Schuster, 1965.
- The Cherry in the Martini, Simon Schuster, 1966.
- The Fame Game, Random House (New York, NY), 1969.
- The Other Woman, Morrow (New York, NY), 1972.
- Family Secrets, Simon Schuster, 1974.
- The Last Chance, Simon Schuster, 1976.
- Class Reunion: A Novel, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1979.
- Mazes and Monsters: A Novel, Delacorte, 1981.
- After the Reunion: A Novel, Delacorte, 1985.
- An American Love Story, Delacorte, 1990.
- The Cousins (Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection), D. I. Fine (New York, NY), 1995.
- Five Women, D. I. Fine (New York, NY), 1997.
- The Road Taken: A Novel, Dutton, 2000.