American author Julia Quinn, best known for writing the historical romance book series Bridgerton, has announced on social media that her father, Stephen Lewis Cotler, and her sister, Ariana Elise Colter (pen name Violet Charles), have passed away in a car crash. In her tribute to her family, Quinn revealed that she had recently finished writing a new graphic novel with her sister titled Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron which she would dedicate to their father. Writing on her official Facebook page, Quinn revealed that the pair were killed in an accident that appears partially caused by an inebriated driver.
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“I have lost my father and my sister,” Quinn wrote on Facebook. “Because a catering company did not secure their load and canvas bags spilled onto the highway. Because a pickup driver thought nothing of driving while his blood alcohol level was nearly 3 times the legal limit. I have lost my father, and I don’t have my sister with whom to grieve. I have lost my sister Violet Charles Comics, with whom I had just finished writing a graphic novel. It was dedicated to our father. It will still be dedicated to our father. It won’t be a surprise anymore, but I’d like to think he suspected we’d do it. He knew us so well. He was our dad.”
Stephen Cotler was an author as well, having penned the “Cheesie Mack” book series for Penguin Random House which began in 2011 and now spans five titles. He also attended Harvard College and Harvard Business School with a career that included pit stops in Hollywood as a screenwriter but also at NASA where he contributed a “tiny subroutine” to the Apollo I mission.
Violet Charles was a cartoonist who published illustrations on her Instagram, the web comic Bridget over troubled Waters, and did the artwork for the previously mentioned Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron.
KUTV reported on the accident, which occurred on June 29, revealing that the alleged drunk driver had been apprehended and charged with two counts of automobile homicide, three counts of driving under the influence, and one count of driving with an open container of alcohol in the vehicle.
Our thoughts are with Quinn and her family as well as the friends and loved ones of her father and sister.
(H/T Entertainment Weekly)
