Judith Ivory is the pen name of Judy Cuevas, a best-selling American author of historical romance novels.
In 1992, within a four-month span Ivory's children fell ill with collapsed lungs, her husband filed for divorce, and their home was hit by Hurricane Andrew.
The children recovered, the house was rebuilt, and Ivory has gotten on with her life, but it caused a major delay in the completion of her book.
Under Avon's guidance, Ivory has become much more successful, graduating to the super lead position (the second highest level) for their romance line by [1999].
Her family is very supportive, to the point that her father has been known to buy all the copies of her latest book at a local bookstore and demand that the owner reorder.
[1] Unfortunately, since the mid-2000s back problems have prevented Ivory from completing her latest work in progress, a Victorian-set novel that is potentially the first in a series.