‘The Thorn Birds’ author dies, aged 77

Australian author Colleen McCullough, whose 1977 best-selling novel The Thorn Birds became a smash hit television miniseries, has died at the age of 77.

McCullough turned to writing after working for more than a decade as a neuroscientist in Australia, Britain, and the US and scored almost immediate success with The Thorn Birds, a family drama set on a sheep station in the Australian outback.

The paperback rights for The Thorn Birds sold for a then record $1.9m and was made into one of the most watched miniseries of all time, starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward. The book sold 30m copies worldwide.