Johanna Helen Lindsey (born as Howard, March 10, 1952, and died October 27, 2019) was an American author who wrote historical romance novels. All of her books made it to the New York Times bestseller list, and many of them reached number one.

Personal life

Johanna Helen Howard was born on March 10, 1952, in Frankfurt, West Germany. Her mother was Wanda Donaldson Howard, who worked in human resources. Her father was Edwin Dennis Howard, a soldier in the U.S. Army assigned to serve in West Germany, where she was born. The Howard family moved frequently during her childhood because of her father’s job in the military.

Her father always wanted to retire in Hawaii, but he passed away in 1964. That same year, her family moved to Hawaii, probably to fulfill his dream.

In 1970, after finishing school, she went on a blind date with Ralph Bruce Lindsey. They married four months later. The couple lived in Hawaii and had three children: Alfred, Joseph, and Garret. After her husband’s death, Lindsey moved to Maine and never married again.

Writing career

Lindsey wrote her first book, Captive Bride, in 1977 "on a whim." The book became popular, and she wrote 49 more novels, which were also successful. By 2006, over 58 million copies of her books had been sold worldwide, and her work had been translated into 12 languages.

Style

Lindsey's work includes many types of romance stories because of the different places and times she writes about. These include historical fiction set during the medieval period, the Regency era, the American frontier, and the Viking age, as well as science fiction. Her most popular books are a series of Regency-era stories about the fictional Malory family (see Family Tree).

Richard Sandomir of The New York Times explained,

Legacy

In December 2019, her son Alfred said that Lindsey passed away on October 27, 2019, at the age of 67. The reason for her death was Stage 4 lung cancer.

Italian model Fabio was often shown on the front cover of Lindsey's books. In 1987, Fabio first appeared on Lindsey's novel Hearts Aflame, painted by Elaine Duillo. This helped start Fabio's career as a male model. By 1992, more than 55 million romance novels with Fabio on the cover had been sold. In 2019, Fabio said he was sorry to hear about Lindsey's death.