Francine Pascal

Francine Pascal (born New York, May 13, 1938) is an American author known for creating the Sweet Valley series of novels. Her "Sweet Valley High" series was made into a television series. Although most of her books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they are still read all over the world.

Her first young adult novel, published in 1977, was called "Hangin' out with Cici", in which her heroine Victoria Martin went back in time and met her mother as a teenager. It was televised as "My Mother Was Never a Kid". She has written two other Victoria Martin books, "My First Love and Other Disasters," and "Love & Betrayal & Hold the Mayo".

Her other notable books include "Caitlin", a set of three trilogies which follows a teenage girl into adulthood, and the fantasy spy series "Fearless" and "Fearless: FBI". "The Ruling Class" (2004) concerning a clique of spectacularly cruel girls who run a high school has been described as "a magnetic "tour de force" created by a master storyteller at the top of her form." [ [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/francine-pascal/ruling-class.htm "The Ruling Class" review] ] In addition to her work for teenagers, Pascal has written the adult fiction books "La Villa" (originally titled "If Wishes Were Horses") and "Save Johanna!", as well as a non-fiction book, "The Case of Patty Hearst".

Pascal also wrote the book to the Broadway musical "George M!" with her husband John Pascal and brother Michael Stewart. She revised the musical "Mack and Mabel", and worked on revising the musical "Carnival!" for the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Pascal says her writing is inspired by her own memories of growing up and by the experiences of her three daughters.

Francine Pascal lives in New York and the south of France. She graduated from New York University and married the journalist, John Pascal, who died in 1981.

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