Australian writer Colleen McCullough has died at 77; she was best known for her doomed Outback romance saga The Thorn Birds, famously adapted for TV with Richard Chamberlain as a passionate priest.

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennetis the latest in a long line ofPride and Prejudice prequels, sequels and updatings, but McCullough strikes out on her own by choosing Miss Mary Bennet as her ...