Rosemary Rogers, born as Jansz, was a Sri Lankan Burgher best-selling author of historical romance novels. Her first book, Sweet Savage Love, was published in 1974. She was the second romance author, after Kathleen Woodiwiss, to have her novels published in paperback books sold in stores. Both writers found their initial success working with editor Nancy Coffey, who was then with Avon Books. Rogers is considered one of the founders of the modern type of historical romance novels, and many writers today say her work has greatly influenced them. She lived in California.

Biography

Rosemary Jansz was born on December 7, 1932, in Panadura, British Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka. Her parents, Barbara "Allan" and Cyril Jansz, were Dutch-Portuguese settlers who owned several private schools. The Rogers family had many servants and lived a life that kept them separate from much of the outside world. She began writing at age eight and, during her teenage years, wrote many long romantic stories inspired by her favorite authors, Sir Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas, père, and Rafael Sabatini. She was the first woman in her family to work outside the home as a feature writer for a Ceylon newspaper.

After spending three years at the University of Ceylon, Rogers became a reporter and soon married Summa Navaratnam, a Ceylonese rugby player and track and field athlete (who played for Ceylon against the 1950 British Lions and was known as "the fastest man in Asia"). After separating from her husband, Rogers moved with her two daughters, Rosanne and Sharon, to London in 1960.

In Europe, she met Leroy Rogers from the United States. They married in his hometown, St. Louis, Missouri, and she moved her family to California, where they had two sons, Michael and Adam. The second marriage ended after eight years, and Rogers was left to support herself and four children on her salary as a typist for the Solano County Parks Department. The following year, in 1969, her parents came to live with her. In Solano County, she met Shirlee Busbee, and Rosemary became her friend and mentor.

Her third marriage, in September 1984, was to poet Christopher Kadison, who was 20 years younger than her. This marriage lasted only a short time.

Rogers later lived in California, where she continued to write until her death.

Rogers died on November 12, 2019, at her home in Monterey, California. She was 86 years old.

For one year, Rogers worked every night to improve a manuscript she had written as a child, rewriting it 24 times. When her teenage daughter found the manuscript in a drawer, she encouraged her mother to send it to Avon, which quickly purchased the novel. That novel, Sweet Savage Love, became a top-selling book and is considered one of the most popular historical romances of all time. Her second novel, Dark Fires, sold two million copies in its first three months of release.

Her first three novels sold a combined total of 10 million copies. The fourth, Wicked Loving Lies, sold 3 million copies in its first month of publication.

Rosemary Rogers was one of the first romance authors to include bedroom scenes in her stories. Her novels often include violence, and the heroines in her stories often experience rape multiple times, sometimes by the heroes and sometimes by other men. Her heroines travel to exotic places and meet important people. In many stories, one or both of the main characters follow a "riches-to-rags-to-riches" storyline.

Her novel Love Play (1981) was featured in the Hindi film Khiladi (1992).