Most famous for her 1973 novel Fear Of Flying, which follows a first-person female protagonist who indulges in extramarital sexual fantasies during a trip to Vienna.

Fear Of Flying sold over 20 million copies, and became an icon of second-wave feminism. Although Jong was raised Jewish, she has noted that she remained "assimilated... and ignorant of the preciousness of [her Jewish] identity" until the 1980s, when she began using her writing to explore her roots.