Novelist Joanna Trollope’s books charted domestic and romantic travails in well-heeled rural England. She wrote almost two dozen contemporary novels, including
The Rector’s Wife,
Marrying the Mistress, Other People’s Children and
Next of Kin. Although sometimes sniffily derided as "Aga sagas" there was no denying their popularity — Trollope was a regular on the best-sellers list alongside the likes of Jilly Cooper and Jeffrey Archer. Trollope, who also published 10 historical novels under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey, studied English at Oxford University, then worked in Britain’s Foreign Office and as a teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1980. She was a distant ancestor of Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope.
The Rector’s Wife was successfully adapted for television in 1991, further cementing her appeal to millions of readers. Trollope firmly believed that her success was due to the fact that her books came from the middle ground of the traditional novel and critics — including the one who coined the "Aga saga " phrase — came around to recognising the merit of her work. Trollope won a novel of the year award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association in 1980 for
Parson Harding’s Daughter. In 2010, the association gave her a lifetime achievement award for services to romance. In 2019, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
Joanna Trollope died on December 11 aged 82. — Agencies/Allied Media
