Jacqueline Susann wrote irresistible novels about fame, excess, ambition, and the emotional wreckage that can hide beneath glittering success. Her bestseller, Valley of the Dolls, became a defining pop-culture sensation of the 1960s and remains a touchstone for readers who love glamorous, scandal-driven fiction.
If you enjoy reading books by Jacqueline Susann, these authors are well worth exploring next:
If Susann’s mix of ambition, glamour, and bad decisions hooked you, Harold Robbins is a natural next read. His novels are bold, flashy, and packed with characters clawing their way from obscurity to wealth and influence.
His book The Carpetbaggers is especially popular. Set against the backdrop of the entertainment world, it delivers ruthless ambition, larger-than-life personalities, and plenty of juicy drama.
Sidney Sheldon writes page-turners filled with glamorous settings, dangerous secrets, and fiercely driven characters. Like Susann, he understands how to blend power, romance, and betrayal into a highly readable story.
One of his best-known novels, The Other Side of Midnight, stands out for its international glamour, dramatic twists, and memorable cast.
Jackie Collins is a perfect choice for readers who love glossy, scandal-soaked fiction. Her stories plunge into celebrity culture, luxury, sex, and power, while never losing sight of the manipulation and heartbreak behind the fantasy.
Her novel Hollywood Wives throws open the doors to a world of fame, fortune, and outrageous behavior, making it an easy recommendation for Susann fans.
Judith Krantz specializes in lush, glamorous fiction filled with style, romance, and determined heroines. If you were drawn to Susann’s blend of glitz and emotional intensity, Krantz offers a similarly addictive reading experience.
Her book Scruples captures the ambition, desire, and drama swirling through the worlds of fashion and wealth.
Rona Jaffe is an excellent pick if what you loved most in Susann was her focus on women navigating work, love, ambition, and disappointment. Jaffe’s fiction tends to be a little sharper and more grounded, but it offers the same fascination with personal reinvention and social pressures.
She writes with emotional honesty and keen observation, exploring friendships, compromises, and the hidden costs of success.
Her novel The Best of Everything follows a group of young women in publishing as they confront romance, career ambitions, and life-changing choices.
Grace Metalious trades Hollywood spectacle for small-town scandal, but the appeal is similar: secrets, hypocrisy, and the collapse of respectable appearances. She has the same willingness to expose what polite society would rather keep hidden.
In Peyton Place, she reveals the gossip, shame, and buried truths simmering beneath a tidy surface.
Irving Wallace writes big, absorbing novels driven by sensational premises, public scandal, and intense human conflict. Readers who enjoy Susann’s interest in fame, power, and notoriety will likely find plenty to enjoy in his work.
His novel The Fan Club explores obsession and celebrity culture in a way that feels both lurid and compelling.
Danielle Steel leans more heavily into romance, but she shares Susann’s gift for dramatic storytelling and emotional upheaval. Her novels often feature privilege, heartbreak, family tension, and characters trying to survive personal crises in elegant settings.
If you’re looking for sweeping, emotionally charged fiction with high-stakes relationships and a touch of glamour, Steel is a strong option.
Olivia Goldsmith brings a sharper comic edge to stories about status, betrayal, and reinvention. Her books often focus on women pushing back against humiliation or unfair expectations, which gives her fiction an energetic, satisfying bite.
Readers who appreciate Susann’s interest in social ambition and female resilience may enjoy Goldsmith’s mix of satire, revenge, and self-discovery.
Candace Bushnell offers witty, fast-moving stories about relationships, ambition, and modern urban life. Her work has a more contemporary voice than Susann’s, but it taps into the same fascination with image, desire, and social competition.
Her book Sex and the City follows New York women navigating friendship, romance, and career pressures, making it a fun choice for readers drawn to glamour and sharp social observation.
Dominick Dunne is a great recommendation for readers who enjoy stories about privilege, scandal, and the dark side of high society. His fiction has a cool, observant tone, but it shares Susann’s fascination with money, status, and personal collapse.
In People Like Us, Dunne follows New York’s elite through tragedy and disgrace, exposing the vanity and ambition beneath their polished surfaces.
Michael Korda writes engrossing novels about success, reinvention, and the cost of chasing stardom. If you like stories in which fame looks dazzling from a distance but becomes complicated up close, he’s worth a try.
His novel Queenie traces a young woman’s rise from poverty to Hollywood celebrity, delivering plenty of romance, ambition, and behind-the-scenes drama.
Arthur Hailey approaches drama through institutions and industries, but his books still offer the high-pressure worlds and personal ambition that Susann readers often enjoy. He excels at showing what happens behind polished public facades.
In his famous novel Hotel, Hailey takes readers inside a luxury New Orleans hotel, where hidden conflicts, secrets, and competing desires drive the story forward.
Evan Hunter may not be as overtly glamorous as Susann, but he writes compelling, character-driven fiction about pressure, identity, and survival. His stories have emotional force and an unflinching interest in how people behave under strain.
Readers who admired Susann’s attention to personal struggle may appreciate Hunter’s The Blackboard Jungle, which explores conflict and frustration in a harsh urban school setting.
Penny Vincenzi writes rich, immersive novels filled with glamour, family conflict, romance, and long-buried tensions. Her books are ideal for readers who want emotionally involving stories with wealth, status, and complicated relationships at the center.
Her novel No Angel dives into the competitive publishing world, following the formidable Celia Lytton as she balances love, ambition, and the consequences of her choices.
