Alexandra Ripley

Alexandra Ripley, née Braid (January 8, 1934 – January 10, 2004) was an American writer best known as the author of Scarlett (1991), written as a sequel to Gone with the Wind. Her first novel was Who's the Lady in the President's Bed? (1972). Charleston (1981), her first historical novel, was a bestseller, as were her next books On Leaving Charleston (1984), The Time Returns (1985), and New Orleans Legacy (1987).

Born Alexandra Elizabeth Braid in Charleston, South Carolina, she attended the elite Ashley Hall and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1955 with a major in Russian. She was thrice wed; from 1958-1963 to Leonard Ripley, an early partner and recording engineer at Elektra Records, from 1971-1981 to Thomas Martin Garlock (1929-2008), and in 1981 to John Vincent Graham (1926-2007), a former professor at the University of Virginia, from whom she was legally separated at the time of her death.

She died of natural causes at her home in Richmond, Virginia, and is survived by two daughters from her first marriage to Leonard Ripley, a son-in-law and granddaughter, Alexandra Elizabeth (of her namesake). The Associated Press reported that her death occurred on January 10, 2004, however, Social Security Death Index and Virginia Death Records indicate that she died on January 13, 2004.

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