LaVyrle Spencer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| LaVyrle Spencer | |
| Born: | 1944 Minnesota (USA)  |
|---|---|
| Occupation: | Novelist |
| Nationality: | United States of America |
| Writing period: | 1979 - Present |
| Genres: | Romance, Historical |
| Debut works: | The fulfillment |
LaVyrle Spencer (born 1944 in Minnesota) is a best-selling author of contemporary and historical romance novels. She has successfully published a number of books, with several of them made into movies. Twelve of her books have been New York Times Bestsellers, and Spencer was inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame in 1988.
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[edit] Biography
LaVyrle Spencer was born and raised in Minnesota. Shortly after her high school graduation Spencer marrier her high-school sweetheart Dan Spencer. The two have since had two daughters, Sarah and Beth, and are grandparents. They live in a Victorian house in Stillwater, Minnesota, where Spencer enjoys gardening, cooking, playing bass guitar and electric piano, and photography.
Although she showed a flair for writing during high school, Spencer didn't begin her first novel until she was in her thirties, working as a teacher's aide at Osseo Junior High School. Spencer decided to try transferring to paper a recurring dream she was having about a story based on her grandmother's lifestyle on a Minnesota farm. She awoke at 4:00 a.m. one morning, and quickly began writing down her story in a three-ring notebook. This story became her first novel, The Fulfillment, and was published in 1979.
Spencer is known for creating realistic characters and stories that focus on families rather than only the relationship between a man and woman. Her heroines tend to be a mix of fire and warmth, strength, savvy and soft–heartedness who must overcome some sort of adversity, such as pregnancy, divorce, a lengthy separation, the loss of a loved one, and then undergo a catharsis. The stories center on themes of abiding love, family ties and strength in difficult times.
In the 1980s and 1990s Spencer wrote 12 New York Times Bestsellers. Her books have been sold to book clubs worldwide, and have been published around the world. Condensed versions of many of her novels have appeared in Reader's Digest and Good Housekeeping magazine. Spencer has also made the leap from page to screen. Her first novel, The Fulfillment, was developed as a CBS-TV movie starring Cheryl Ladd and Morning Glory, which Spencer wrote in 1989, was released as a major motion picture under the same title, starring Deborah Raffin and Christopher Reeve. Spencer and her husband appear as extras in the film.
In a television deal that Publishers Weekly called “precedent–setting,” CBS– TV produced two of Spencer's books for television movies, with an option on a third. Home Song, the first book produced by CBS–TV, starring Lee Horsley, Polly Draper, and Deborah Raffin, aired in April 1996 to high praise. The second, Family Blessings, starred Lynda Carter, and was directed by Deborah Raffin and Nina Foch. The network also bought the rights to first look at 11 other Spencer novels, as well as pre–cable broadcast rights to the theatrical film of her novel Morning Glory.
For her accomplshments, Spencer was inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame in 1988.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Novels
- The Fulfillment (1979)
- The Endearment (1982)
- Forsaking All Others (1982)
- Hummingbird (1983)
- A Promise to Cherish (1983)
- The Hellion (1984)
- Sweet Memories (1984)
- Twice Loved (1984)
- Separate Beds (1985)
- Spring Fancy (1985)
- A Heart Speaks (1986)
- The Gamble (1987)
- Years (1987)
- Vows (1988)
- Morning Glory (1989)
- Bitter Sweet (1990)
- Forgiving (1991)
- Bygones (1992)
- November of the Heart (1993)
- Family Blessings (1994)
- Home Song (1995)
- That Camden Summer (1996)
- Then Came Heaven (1997)
- Small Town Girl (1997)
[edit] Omnibus
- The Hellion / Separate Beds / Hummingbird (1991)
- Bittersweet / Morning Glory / Vows (1991)
- Gamble / Endearment / Forgiving (1992)
- Years / Twice Loved / Spring Fancy (1993)
- Morning Glory / Vows/ the Gamble (1994)
- Bygones / Separate Beds / Bitter Sweet (1994)
- Hummingbird / Twice Loved / Vows (1994)
- Separate Beds / Forsaking All Others / Promise to Cherish (1995)
- The Endearment / Bitter Sweet / Forgiving (1995)
- Bygones / November of the Heart / Family Blessings (1996)
- For the Heart: Sweet Memories / a Matter of Circumstance / Afterglow (1997)
- Home Song / That Camden Summer / Small Town Girl (1999)
[edit] Collections
- Sweet Memories / One Tough Texan (1999) (with Jan Freed)
