PW Daily reports that Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, who is credited with inventing the modern historical romance novel, died Saturday at Fairview Northland Regional Hospital in Princeton after a long illness. She was 68. When her debut novel THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER was published in 1972, the romance world had not seen anything like it before. It sold over 2.3 million copies in its first four years of publication and her eleven subsequent novels, including THE WOLF AND THE DOVE (1974) SHANNA (1977) and THE RELUCTANT SUITOR (2002) have all been successful to varying bestselling degrees, with over 36 million total copies in print. Woodiwiss’s final novel, EVERLASTING, will be published by William Morrow in hardcover this October.

Funeral services will be held at 11:30 A.M. on Wednesday, July 11th at the Church of The Open Door in Maple Grove. A visitation will be held 1 hour prior to the service at the church and also from 5:00 – 8:00 P.M. on Tuesday, July 10th at Strike Funeral Home – Cambridge Chapel.