New York, June 25: Top-selling American novelist Leon Uris, best known for Exodus about the creation of Israel and Trinity on the conflict in Ireland, has died in New York of congestive heart failure. He was 78.
His ex-wife, Jill Uris, said by telephone from Aspen, Colorado, that the novelist had died on Saturday at his home on New York's Shelter Island - the small island off Long Island where he lived since 1989.
HarperCollins, set to publish Uris' last book in October, said in a statement he died of congestive heart failure. Jill Uris said the new book, O'Hara's Choice, was a historical fiction about the U.S. Marine Corps.
"He completed it in the spring," she said.
Uris' novels reflected his experiences as a Marine in World War Two and as a war correspondent. His first novel, Battle Cry, was published in 1953 when he was 29 years old and it was turned into a film.
Apart from Exodus in 1958 and Trinity in 1976, Uris was also known for his screenplay, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, a 1957 movie directed by John Sturges with Hollywood stars Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas.

In 1956, six years after becoming a full-time writer, Uris reported on the Middle East conflict. His novels have sold more than 150 million copies in 29 countries and many topped bestseller lists, HarperCollins said.
Bureau Report