Joanna Trollope, the queen of romance novels, died at the age of 82

Trollope he has published over 30 novels during a career that began in the 1980s. After her debut in historical fiction under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey, in the mid-1980s she dedicated herself to romance fiction, the choice that consecrated her to the general public. Success came in 1991 with ‘The Rector’s Wife’, which displaced the big names from the charts, followed by works that tackled themes that were little explored at the time: infidelity, family recomposition, complex parenting and care for the elderly.

In Italy, Trollope has been translated and published by various publishing houses, also bringing to the Italian public some of her most representative stories of contemporary fiction: ‘Semplici amori’ (Sonzogno), ‘Brother and sister’ (Corbaccio), ‘Gli altri bambini’ (Sonzogno), ‘The wives of my children’ (Mondadori), ‘The ages of love’ (Bompiani and then Sonzogno), ‘A lover to marry’ (Corbaccio). These titles describe feelings, social changes and the challenges of private life with realism and humanity. Often labeled by some critics as a ‘middlebrow’ or domestic saga author, Trollope has always rejected reductive definitions. In an interview with the Guardian, he stressed that his novels were often more complex and realistic than they appear at first glance. The most attentive critics recognized an extraordinary ability to describe ordinary life, with its silences, its conflicts and its nuances.

After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English Literature, Joanna Trollope spent a short time at the British Foreign Office, where she worked in the section dedicated to Eastern Europe. He subsequently worked on diplomatic relations between China and developing countries, an experience that contributed to broadening his perspective on the world and international dynamics.

Between 1967 and 1979 he taught in various schools, alternating his professional commitment with caring for his two daughters. Only in 1980 did he decide to dedicate himself completely to writing. Her first books were historical novels published under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey, but it was her transition to fiction in the mid-1980s that defined her identity as an author and brought her international success.

Recognized for her contribution to British literature, Trollope received the Order of the British Empire in 1996, to which she added the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2019. Her private life was marked by two marriages: the first, with the banker David Potter, with whom she had two daughters and from whom she divorced in 1983; the second, with the playwright Ian Curteis, married in 1985 and from whom she separated in 2001. (by Paolo Martini)