Shirley Conran, the British author known for her popular, sex-filled novels that made a splash in the 1980s and 1990s, has died at 91, the Guardian reports.

Conran, a London native, worked as a textile designer and journalist before making her literary debut in 1975 with Superwoman, a nonfiction household management guide that contained the memorable sentence “Life’s too short to stuff a mushroom.” The book was a bestseller in the U.K. and spawned a series of follow-up books, including Superwoman 2, Futurewoman, and Superwoman in Action.

In 1982, she published her first novel, Lace, which tells the story of four successful, middle-aged women summoned to a hotel by a 28-year-old woman who asks them, in another now-infamous line, “Which one of you bitches is my mother?” The novel, which was adapted into a 1984 miniseries starring Phoebe Cates, is considered one of the first “bonkbusters,” novels filled with explicit sex scenes.

Her other novels included Lace 2, Savages, Crimson, and Tiger Eyes. Later in life, she became an activist, founding the charities Work-Life Balance Trust and Maths Anxiety Trust, a group that seeks to combat mathematics-related anxiety in Britons.

Conran’s admirers paid tribute to her on social media. On Instagram, her son Jasper Conran, wrote, “Shirl girl has flown away, a lark ascending. Thank you to all the wonderful doctors and nurses at St. Mary’s Paddington who looked after her and thank you to all of you kind, dear people who sent her so many beautiful messages that meant so much to her.”

And on X, former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss posted, “So sad to hear of the death of my friend Dame Shirley Conran. She was a life force, incredibly generous and a dedicated campaigner for maths education. I am very grateful for all the encouragement and support she gave me.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.