French author Dominique Lapierre, some of whose most celebrated works focused on India, died at the age of 91 on Sunday, AFP reported.

His wife Dominique Conchon-Lapierre told the French newspaper Var-Matin that the author died of old age. She added that he was “at peace and serene since Dominique is no longer suffering”.

In 1975, Lapierre co-authored Freedom at Midnight with American writer Larry Collins – an account of the last days of British rule in India, the initial few months of the country’s independence and the death of Mahatma Gandhi.

Born on July 30, 1931, Lapierre’s most popular work Is Paris Burning? was also co-authored with Collins and was published in 1965. The book traced the events of the Second World War leading up to the period in 1944 when Nazi forces of Germany seized control of Paris.

In his novel City of Joy, published in 1985, Lapierre wrote about the hardships of a rickshaw puller in Kolkata. Lapierre also co-authored Five Past Midnight in Bhopal, a witness account of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

Lapierre was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award, in 2008.

Several social media users on Monday paid their tributes to the author and reflected on his works.