The insatiable appetite of publishers for steamy sex in bestsellers has persuaded Britain's most popular female novelist to hang up her pen.

Irish writer Maeve Binchy has confirmed that her next book, Scarlet Feather, will be her last. Her career, spanning almost 20 years, hit a high last year with Tara Road which sold over 1m copies worldwide.

But the 59-year-old writer has decided to retire at the top. Binchy said she was unwilling to allow her books to become peppered with the "steamy sex" scenes so often desired by today's publishers.

"It's not something I can do, nor will do," she told the Sunday Times. "I've never been to an orgy so I can't do orgy scenes."

She published her first novel, Light a Penny Candle, in 1982, and it became the first of 10 bestsellers.

But despite the fact there will be no more novels from Binchy, she has promised to publish some short stories.