Joanna Trollope CBE (1943–2025)
We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of our treasured author, Joanna Trollope CBE, who died peacefully at home on 11th December 2025, at the age of 82.
Joanna Trollope CBE, the acclaimed novelist celebrated for her insightful and compelling portrayals of modern British life died peacefully at home on 11th December 2025. Trollope was born on 9 December 1943 in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, England. She was the daughter of Rosemary Hodson and Arthur George Cecil Trollope and is a fifth-generation niece of the Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope.
Educated at Reigate County School for Girls, she won a scholarship to St Hugh's College, Oxford, where she read English, graduating in 1961. Her early career included a tenure at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1965 to 1967, followed by various teaching posts until 1979. She dedicated herself to full-time writing starting in 1980.
Trollope initially wrote historical romances under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey before transitioning to the contemporary fiction that defined her career. Her first contemporary novel, The Choir, was published in 1988, followed by the successful The Rector's Wife in 1991. Both novels were subsequently adapted for television, with The Rector's Wife (1994) featuring Lindsay Duncan and Ronald Pickup for Channel 4, and The Choir (1995) becoming a five-episode BBC miniseries starring Jane Asher and James Fox. Other novels adapted for television include A Village Affair and Other People's Children. In 2013, she contributed Sense & Sensibility to The Austen Project. Her prolific output includes novels such as A Spanish Lover (1993), Other People's Children (1998), Brother and Sister (2004), and Mum & Dad (2020).
As Caroline Harvey, she wrote the Legacy Saga novels, Legacy of Love (1983) and A Second Legacy (1993), as well as the historical novels A Castle in Italy (1993) and The Brass Dolphin (1997). She also published the non-fiction work, Britannia's Daughters: Women of the British Empire (1983).
Joanna Trollope was appointed OBE in 1996, advanced to CBE in 2019. She is survived by her two daughters, Louise and Antonia, as well as five grandchildren, two stepsons and their four children.
Joanna Prior, CEO of Pan Macmillan, said:
Joanna Trollope was a treasured author at Pan Macmillan from 2017. She was much admired for her astute judgement, sharp wit, fun company and steely determination, and appreciated for the kindness she showed to those who worked closely with her. Joanna and I got to know each other before I joined Pan Macmillan as she was a Trustee of the National Literacy Trust when I joined their board. She was an inspiration in the way she supported the work of the charity and helped with fundraising, always making time and speaking with passion about the importance of books and reading. Her own novels were captivating and thought provoking and it was a privilege to be her publisher.'
Jeremy Trevathan, Joanna Trollope’s publisher at Pan Macmillan said:
'Joanna was such a witty, wise, and empathetic author who wrote with a really unerring insight into the complexities and anxieties of contemporary family life, but she was also just lots of fun to be with. It was such a privilege for us that she came to us for her later fiction. The only consolation is that she leaves us all a wonderful legacy of compelling, insightful social commentary, portraying family dynamics with warmth, intelligence, and a keen eye for human foibles.'
