Olivia Goldsmith, the novelist whose book The First Wives' Club became a hit movie, has died of complications from plastic surgery. She was 54.

Goldsmith had been in a coma since she suffered a heart attack on January 7 as she went under anaesthesia for a procedure to remove loose skin from her chin.

Her million-selling novel, which came out in 1992, told of three women who joined forces to seek revenge after their wealthy husbands leave them for younger partners.

The book became a film in 1996 starring Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler. Hawn's character is a plastic surgery fan who pleads for yet another procedure.