Olivia Goldsmith

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**Olivia Goldsmith**
Pseudonym:	Justine Goldfield, Randy Goldfield, Justine Rendal
Born:	1949 Dumont, New Jersey
Died:	January 15, 2004 Manhattan, New York
Occupation:	novelist
Nationality:	American

Olivia Goldsmith (1949 - January 15, 2004) was an American author, best known for her first novel The First Wives Club (1992). She was born Randy Goldfield in Dumont, New Jersey, but changed her name to Justine Goldfield and later to Justine Rendal. She took up writing following a divorce in which she said her husband got almost everything (including her Jaguar and the country house). ^[1]A graduate of New York University, she was a partner at the management consultants Booz Allen Hamilton in New York prior to becoming a writer.

Many of her books can be described as revenge fantasies; a constant theme is the mistreatment of women by the men they love, but with the women coming out the winners in the end.

Controversially, in late 1996 (the same in which that the film version of The First Wives Club was released and earned over $100 million at the box office), Goldsmith said, in response to an Entertainment Weekly reporter's question, that her favorite event of 1996 was when Bob Dole fell off a stage during a campaign function.

She also wrote several books for children, which were published under the name "Justine Rendal."

Goldsmith died from complications from plastic surgery. ^[2] Her final two books were published posthumously.

[edit] Bibliography

The First Wives Club (1992), made into a movie starring Bette Midler, Diane Keaton, and Goldie Hawn in 1996. The story deals with three friends who have been left by their husbands for younger women. After a friend (also a "first wife") kills herself, they decided to exact revenge on their ex-husbands.
Fashionably Late (1993) in which a young designer tries to handle her fashion house while dealing with her troubled marriage and finding her birth mother.
Flavor of the Month (1994), a satire of Hollywood in which a talented but plain actress gets plastic surgery to look younger and is cast in a hit TV show and a movie directed by her former boyfriend.
Marrying Mom (1996), in which three thirty-something New Yorkers try to get a husband for their widowed mother so she'll stop interfering in their lives.
The Bestseller (1996), tracking five people with novels as they adjust to the publishing game and try to see their books succeed.
Switcheroo (1998), where a wife discovers that her husband is having an affair. When she meets the mistress, they're stunned to realize that, but for a twenty-year age gap, they look exactly alike. With makeup and surgery, they switch places to try and teach him a lesson.
Young Wives (2000), a sort of flip side of "First Wives Club" where three twenty-something women discover their husbands are up to no good, from affairs to drug dealing and band together to get payback.
Bad Boy (2001) in which a trendy Seattle reporter does an 'extreme-makeover' job on her best friend - a nerdy male computer programmer - to transform him 'from zero to hero.'
Pen Pals (2002) in which an ambitious Wall Street financier agrees to take the rap for her boss in an insider dealing case. She finds herself abandoned by both her boss and her fiance, and ends up serving prison time. She then helps save the prison from a corporation trying to buy it out.
Dumping Billy (2004), in which a woman notices that every time a woman is dumped by "Billy" she gets married to the next guy she meets. She thus attempts to set up a friend with him, hoping she'll be next after the breakup.
Wish Upon A Star (2004) in which a low-level secretary is invited to go to London with one of her firm's top partners, only to be cheated upon by him there, forcing herself to carve a new life for herself in a strange city.