SUSAN MORGANSusan Morgan, pioneer of the chick-lit genre who used the pen names Zoe Barnes and Sue Dyson, died on 30 October, 2009, aged 52.
The well-known author wrote 45 novels, including Wedding Belles, Just Married and Return to Sender.
A Thanksgiving Service for her life was held at St Luke’s Church, Cheltenham.
Her husband Simon Morgan, who still lives in Cheltenham, said his wife’s ill-health drastically affected her quality of life.
He said: "She was still for the most part a very positive person. She was very sensitive and put others before herself.
"She was dedicated to her work and was very good at it."
The couple, who married in April 2001, lived together in Cheltenham with her father Jack Lightfoot.
Apart from her best-selling work, Mrs Morgan translated books into French and helped translate some of the 300,000 words in the Van Gogh letters which were recently published.
Most of her novels, under the name Zoe Barnes, were set in Cheltenham and mention areas such as Charlton Kings, Tivoli and Montpellier.
Mr Morgan said his wife was neglected by the local literary scene.
"The town could have done more to recognise her as a local author," he said.
"She never got the recognition she deserved from the literary festival."
He said they had discussed book ideas just before she died.
"That is one regret, that they will never come to fruition," he said.
Writing was her life-long passion. She had previously worked as a hearing aid technician and a secretary.
Her other passion was singing as a mezzo-soprano and she performed for hundreds of people at Cheltenham Town Hall.
The other love was animals – cats in particular – and the couple owned five in total.
A spokesman from her publisher Piatkus said: "She was one of the pioneers of chick-lit back in the 90s and has been entertaining her female fans ever since. All her stories were honest and believable, with flawed but honourable heroines any woman would want to call their friend.
"She will be sorely missed by everyone who has had the pleasure to work with her throughout her career as a commercial women’s fiction novelist."
A friend of Mrs Morgan’s wrote on a weblog called neilinnes.org: "She was very proactive about her health issues, for instance writing books to help others understand coping with the auto-immune condition Sjogrens which she developed in later life.
"Her passions were cats and the Isle of Man. She was on the island when she passed and for that I’m grateful to whoever the big guy is up above who pulls all the strings. I just can’t believe she’s gone."
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