"Evergreen" Author Belva Plain Dead at 95

NEW YORK (CBS) Belva Plain, author of more than 20 bestselling novels about Jewish -American life, has died at the age of 95

According to The New York Times, Plain died Tuesday, Oct. 12, at her home in Short Hills, N.J.

The wife of an ophthalmologist and mother of three, Plain was more than 60 years old when she published hr first novel "Evergreen" in 1978. A Barnard College graduate , she had been contributing short stories to magazines since she was in her 20s.

"Evergreen," which spent 41 weeks on the bestseller lists and was made into a TV miniseries, followed a Jewish immigrant from Poland in turn-of-the-century New York.

Her publisher says 30 million copies of her books are in print, translated into 22 languages. Among the 20 that have reached the bestseller chart s were such titles as "Crescent City," "Promises," "Blessings," and "Daybreak."

She is survived by two daughter, Barbara Plain and Nancy Goldfeder; a son, John; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.