Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Valley of the Dolls | 1966 |
| The Love Machine | 1969 |
| Once Is Not Enough | 1973 |
| Dolores | 1976 |
| Yargo | 1979 |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| Every Night, Josephine! | 1963 |
About Jacqueline Susann
Jacqueline Susann (1918 to 1974) was an American novelist and former actress whose 1966 novel “Valley of the Dolls” became one of the best-selling books in publishing history. She followed it with “The Love Machine” and “Once Is Not Enough”, and was the first author to have three consecutive novels reach number one on the New York Times Best Seller list.
She was born on 20 August 1918 in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, the only child of the portrait painter Robert Susan and his wife Rose, a schoolteacher. After leaving West Philadelphia High School in 1936 she moved to New York to become an actress, and in 1937 won a small part in the Broadway company of “The Women”. Stage roles, television work and commercials followed over the next two decades. With her friend Beatrice Cole she wrote the comedy “Lovely Me”, which opened on Broadway in December 1946 and closed after 37 performances. She married the press agent Irving Mansfield in 1939.
Her first book was “Every Night, Josephine!” (1963), an affectionate account of life with her poodle. “Valley of the Dolls” came three years later. It follows three women, Anne Welles, Neely O’Hara and Jennifer North, across twenty years in show business as each comes to rely on “dolls”, Susann’s word for amphetamines and barbiturates. Reviews were largely negative, but the book spent 28 consecutive weeks at number one and was the best-selling novel of 1966. The 1967 film starred Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and Sharon Tate, with Susann in a cameo as a reporter.
“The Love Machine” (1969) is set in 1960s network television and centres on the executive Robin Stone; it was filmed in 1971. “Once Is Not Enough” (1973) follows January Wayne, the daughter of a famous producer, and was filmed in 1975. Susann toured extensively for each book, and she and Mansfield are widely credited with creating the modern book tour.
Susann was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1962 and died on 21 September 1974, aged 56. Two books appeared after her death: “Dolores” (1976), a novella based on the life of Jacqueline Kennedy that was first written for the Ladies’ Home Journal, and “Yargo” (1979), a romantic science fiction novel she had written in the 1950s. Bette Midler played her in the 2000 film “Isn’t She Great”.