Francine Pascal, creator of Sweet Valley High books, dies at 92 | Books

Francine Pascal, creator of the bestselling Sweet Valley High book series, has died at the age of 92.

According to the New York Times, the author died in New York from lymphoma. The news was confirmed by her daughter Laurie Wenk-Pascal.

Pascal was a journalist who wrote for the television soap opera The Young Marrieds in the 1960s before writing her first young adult novel in 1975. The Sweet Valley High book series began in 1983 and told the stories of twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield.

In 2012, Pascal told the Guardian that she wanted to write “high school as a microcosm of the real world” and filled her books with drama and plot twists, deliberately trying to appeal to a broad commercial audience. Later books also included supernatural elements and murder mysteries.

“The books I’d written before … were aimed at a more sophisticated, educated audience,” she said. “But I wanted Sweet Valley to be accessible to everyone.” She added: “There was definitely a lot of action — I didn’t leave anything out. But we love this book because we don’t live that kind of life.”

Pascal wrote the first 12 books herself, then worked with other authors on the others, creating outlines and a reference bible. “People who couldn’t stay within the confines of the text weren’t cut out for this,” she said.

Pascal then brought the characters back in Sweet Valley Confidential, a novel she wrote herself in 2011, which follows the characters in their 30s. “It was an opportunity not only to catch up with these people, but to see what had happened, how their lives had unfolded,” she said. “And I guess I was right: Sweet Valley Confidential ended up on the New York Times bestseller list and sold like crazy.”

In the end, 181 books sold over 200 million copies. In 1994, a television series adaptation was launched and the rights were sold internationally, lasting four seasons.

Diablo Cody was originally rumoured for a big screen version in the late 2000s, but the project fell through. In 2017, a new version was put into development, but the project has since gone quiet. Last year, the twins returned in a graphic novel series.