One of the most popular soaps is “The Young and the Restless.” A multiple Emmy Award winning show, it debuted in 1973 and focuses on scenarios that revolve around elegance, wealth, and big business. And for nearly two decades, Victoria Rowell has been a part of it, enthralling millions of fans with her legendary character, Drucilla Winters. Drucilla moved to Genoa City in 1990 and in the years before her fall from a cliff in 2007, her storylines have involved illiteracy, a society marriage, sexual trysts, murder suspicions, and all-around mayhem. Victoria is a true insider, and now with her debut novel, SECRETS OF A SOAP OPERA DIVA (Atria Books; $16.00; May 4, 2010, she gives the goods on what really goes on behind the scenes in the volatile, powerful—utterly narcissist—world of soap operas.

Victoria Rowell is an advocate, mother, former foster child, versatile actress, and New York Times bestselling author of The Women Who Raised Me. Known as the feisty Drucilla Winters on “The Young and the Restless,” she has been nominated twice for a Daytime Emmy and awarded twelve NAACP Image Awards. Victoria also co-starred with Dick Van Dyke on “Diagnosis Murder” for eight seasons. To learn more about Victoria Rowell, visit her website at www.victoriarowell.com.