Bestselling British writer Joanna Trollope dies at 82

Joanna Trollope, English novelist, portrait, Suzzara, Italy, 4th April 2007. (Photo by Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images)

LONDON — British writer Joanna Trollope, whose bestselling novels charted domestic and romantic travails in well-heeled rural England, has died, her family said Friday. She was 82.

Trollope’s daughters, Antonia and Louise, said the writer died peacefully at her home in Oxfordshire, southern England, on Thursday.

Trollope wrote almost two dozen contemporary novels, including “The Rector’s Wife,” “Marrying the Mistress” and “Next of Kin.” They were often dubbed “Aga sagas,” after the old-fashioned Aga ovens found in affluent country homes.

Trollope disliked the term, noting that her books tackled uncomfortable subjects including infidelity, marital breakdown and the challenges of parenting.

“That was a very unfortunate phrase and I think it’s done me a lot of damage,” she once said. ”It was so patronizing to the readers, too.”

Trollope also published 10 historical novels under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey.

In 2019, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, by Queen Elizabeth II.

Her literary agent, James Gill, called Trollope “one of our most cherished, acclaimed and widely enjoyed novelists.

“Joanna will be mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends and — of course — her readers,” Gill said.

The Associated Press