Colleen McCullough, Author of ‘The Thorn Birds,’ Dies at 77

The New York Times ^ | January 29, 2015 | Margalit Fox

[EveningStar]

Colleen McCullough, a former neurophysiological researcher at Yale who, deciding to write novels in her spare time, produced “The Thorn Birds,” a multigenerational Australian romance that became an international best seller and inspired a hugely popular television mini-series, died on Thursday on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific, where she had made her home for more than 30 years. She was 77.

[EveningStar]

Wikipedia

[EveningStar]

ping

[Buckeye McFrog]

I remember the miniseries.
All the girls I knew were swooning over Richard Chamberlain.

Little did they know...

[DCBryan1]

First Man in Rome....going to have to go back and read the series.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Another nail in the side of the priests and religious faith of the Catholic Church worldwide ... in the name of “popular” literature and “art” of course.

[gattaca]

It had a great theme song.

[paterfamilias]

I read the first three books of her Masters of Rome series. Outstanding.

[Fiji Hill]

Three Stars Will Shine Tonight--Richard Chamberlain (1962)

[Buckeye McFrog]

I saw bits of it and was actually disturbed by the thought that the Catholic Church might have Priests who were this indecisive.

“Either stay true to your vows, or just quit and run off with her already. I can’t stand watching you straddle on the fence any longer!”

Though I have to admit....Rachel Ward would not have had to work very hard to convince me to get her pregnant.

[rabidralph]

LOL!

[IronJack]

"Thorn Birds" was a horrible bodice-ripper soap opera of a book. Contrived narrative devices abounded, the characters were two-dimensional cutouts, and the plot was epic only in the number of pages it took to play out. I especially like the end chapters where the author disposes of her characters through a series of ridiculous accidental deaths because she herself has grown weary of them.

I put it in the same league as the "Rich Man, Poor Man" series that befouled the literary space about the same time. But then again, that was the heyday of prime-time soap operas: "Dallas", "Falcon Crest", "Dynasty" ... Bleccchhhhh.

[pbmaltzman]

I read "The Thorn Birds" and a few other of her novels; haven't been able to wade through the "Rome" series yet.

R.I.P. Colleen McCullough!

[dfwgator]

All the girls I knew were swooning over Richard Chamberlain.

Well he certainly wasn't swooning over them.

[EveningStar]

I remember that. LOL.

[EveningStar]

"Rich Man, Poor Man"

I heard that there was a Saudi Arabian version called "Rich Man, Rich Man".

[Fightin Whitey]

Chamberlin was a chambermaid?

Didn't know that.

[IronJack]

Or “Rich Man, Poor Camel.”

[biff]

My thoughts exactly, she was a hottie and the only reason I watched the series with wifey. Little did she suspect I was plotting to kidnap RW and give her a little swooning.

[dfwgator]

Rachel Ward would not have had to work very hard to convince me to get her pregnant.

I didn't watch The Thornbirds, but I remember her from Sharkey's Machine, she was about as hot as it gets in that one.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.