Alexandra Ripley, née Braid was an American writer best known as the author of Scarlett (1991), the sequel to Gone with the Wind. Her first novel was Who's the Lady in the President's Bed? (1972). Charleston (1981), her first historical novel, was a bestseller, as were her next books On Leaving Charleston (1984), The Time Returns (1985), and New Orleans Legacy (1987). Scarlett received some damning reviews, but was very successful nonetheless. She attended the elite Ashley Hall, in Charleston, South Carolina, and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

She died in Richmond, Virginia, and is survived by two daughters from her first marriage to Leonard Ripley, a son in law and granddaughter, Alexandra Elizabeth.