Susan Beth Pfeffer, "whose novels for young adult readers delved into sensitive subjects like suicide, sexual harassment and the sheer complexity of growing up in a modern American family, and who found late-career success with a bestselling series set in postapocalyptic Pennsylvania," died June 23, the New York Times reported. She was 77.
A prolific author, Pfeffer published more than 70 novels, beginning with Just Morgan in 1970, a year after she graduated from New York University. Her last book, The Shade of the Moon, was released in 2013. She "wrote across a wide variety of genres, including historical fiction and science fiction dystopias, but certain themes ran through all her works--above all, how families operate, or don't, in the face of challenges, whether quotidian or catastrophic," the Times wrote.
Pfeffer considered retiring from writing before Life as We Knew It (2006), about a family trying to survive after an asteroid knocks the moon closer to Earth, achieved success. She followed it up with The Dead and the Gone (2008), along with two more books in the series: This World We Live In (2010), and The Shade of the Moon.
Her other books include Better Than All Right (1972), The Year Without Michael (1987), and The Ring of Truth (1993). In 1997, she published four books in her Portraits of Little Women series, exploring characters in Louisa May Alcott's classic novel.
Pfeffer wrote quickly, sometimes two or more books a year, the Times noted, adding that she told interviewers "she rarely wasted time on finding the perfect word or crafting a detailed character description; like the former film student she was, her focus was pacing and dialogue.... Though she did not score a best seller until Life as We Knew It, Ms. Pfeffer developed a reliable core of readers, who followed her through her wide-ranging genre journeys."