Prolific best-selling author John Jakes dies at 90
By Sebastian Lee, The Island Packet (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) (TNS) HILTON HEAD, S.C. — Best-selling author John Jakes died Saturday in Florida. H...
By Sebastian Lee, The Island Packet (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) (TNS) HILTON HEAD, S.C. — Best-selling author John Jakes died Saturday in Florida. He was 90. Jakes, who wrote more than 80 books, is best known for his historical fiction. Before he moved to Sea Pines on Hilton Head in 1978, he was already the first author to have three books on the New York Times bestseller list in one year, Volumes 2, 3 and 4 of his series ' The Kent Family Chronicles .' During Jakes' three decades on the island, he wrote a plethora of novels, most notably the 'North and South' trilogy , which followed two families, rice farmers from South Carolina and ironworkers from Pennsylvania before, during and after the Civil War.