She was also encouraged by an uncle,[3] the American-Canadian writer Charles Yale Harrison, best known for his best-selling story of World War I, Generals Die in Bed (1930).

[citation needed] She was unsuccessful in selling short stories to women's magazines,[5][note 2] but, in 1963, she did publish a book for children, What Kind of Feet Does a Bear Have?

"[7] In 1969, Rossner published her second novel, Nine Months in the Life of an Old Maid (Dial Press), about a woman in her late 30s and her sister's unexpected pregnancy; The New York Times complimented its "... unusual literary climate rich in universal implications.

"[8] After its publication, Rossner and her family moved to Acworth, New Hampshire, to live on a rural commune while her husband taught at a progressive school there.

In 1972, she published Any Minute I Can Split (McGraw-Hill), the story of a very pregnant woman who leaves her husband and runs away to a commune, "a sunburst of human relationships.

Rossner, who had been recovering from a car accident, had become interested in the true story of Roseann Quinn, a 28-year-old schoolteacher who had been brutally murdered in January 1973 by a man she had reportedly picked up in a singles bar.

On June 2, 1975, Simon & Schuster published Looking for Mr. Goodbar, the graphic story of Theresa Dunn, a damaged young woman who teaches children by day and cruises singles bars by night.

[18] Following the success of Goodbar, which brought her fame and wealth and subsequently allowed her to write full-time, Rossner returned to her novel of conjoined twins.

Her only novel with a noncontemporary setting, the book was based on the life of a historical Maine woman, Emmeline Mosher, who at 14 is sent from her home to take a job in a textile mill in order to support her impoverished family.

This story of 18-year-old Dawn Henley who undergoes psychoanalysis with Dr. Lulu Shinefeld, who has issues of her own, was a significant best seller, spending 19 weeks on the New York Times list.

[24] On page one of The New York Times Book Review, Walter Kendrick wrote, "I know of no other account, imagined or factual, that gives such a vivid picture of the analytic experience, on both sides of its intense, troubled, ambiguous relationship.

Rossner's eighth novel, written during her long recuperation, was His Little Women (Summit Books), a modern retelling of the Louisa May Alcott classic, which was published in 1990 to mixed reviews.

Although The New York Times found the novel "energetic, ambitious and funny...,"[27] many agreed with the verdict of Publishers Weekly: "Laboriously contrived, rambling and lacking momentum... it will disappoint fans of the author who expect better.

"[29] The Los Angeles Times noted that Olivia is "a remarkable exploration of the intimate, complex connections between food and emotion...."[30] Rossner published her last novel, Perfidia (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday), in 1997 to extraordinary reviews.