Joan van Nuys was an American author of historical romance novels. She has also written standard romance novels under the pseudonym 'Marianna Essex' . She married Robert van Nuys in 1950. They settled in western Pennsylvania and had three daughters. In the 1960s and 1970s, she performed with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. Some of these books were translated into other languages, and she attained a worldwide following. She died on May 20, 2000, after a brief battle with colon cancer. Her novels are still widely available on the Internet.