Rosamunde Pilcher,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(''née'' Scott; 22 September 1924 – 6 February 2019) was a British writer of romance novels, mainstream fiction, and short stories, from 1949 until her retirement in 2000. Her novels sold over 60 million copies worldwide. Early in her career she was also published under the pen name Jane Fraser. In 2001, she received the Corine Literature Prize's Weltbild Readers' Prize for ''Winter Solstice''.

Personal life

She was born Rosamunde Scott on 22 September 1924 in Lelant,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

. Her parents were Helen (''née'' Harvey) and Charles Scott, a British civil servant. Just before her birth her father was posted in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, while her mother remained in England. She attended the School of St. Clare in

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situ ...

and

Howell's School Llandaff , image = Ysgol Howell, Llandaf 01.JPG , image_size = , caption = , coordinates = , motto = Nurturing Excellence , established = 1860 , closed = , type = Independent day school , rel ...

before going on to Miss Kerr-Sanders' Secretarial College. She began writing when she was seven, and published her first short story when she was 15. From 1943 until 1946, Pilcher served with the Women's Royal Naval Service. On 7 December 1946, she married Graham Hope Pilcher, a war hero and jute industry executive who died in March 2009. They moved to Dundee, Scotland. They had two daughters and two sons. Her son, Robin Pilcher, is also a novelist. Pilcher died on 6 February 2019, at the age of 94, following a stroke.

Writing career

In 1949, Pilcher's first book, a romance novel, was published by Mills and Boon, under the pseudonym Jane Fraser. She published a further ten novels under that name. In 1955, she also began writing under her real name with ''Secret to Tell''. By 1965 she had dropped the pseudonym and was signing her own name to all of her novels. The breakthrough in Pilcher's career came in 1987, when she wrote the family saga ''

The Shell Seekers ''The Shell Seekers'' is a 1987 novel by Rosamunde Pilcher. It became one of her most famous best-sellers. It was nominated by the British public in 2003 as one of the top 100 novels in the BBC's Big Read. In Germany the novel is called ''Die M ...

'', her fourteenth novel under her own name. It focuses on an elderly British woman, Penelope Keeling, who relives her life in flashbacks, and on her relationship with her adult children. Keeling's life was not extraordinary, but it spans "a time of huge importance and change in the world." The novel describes the everyday details of what life during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

was like for some of those who lived in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. ''The Shell Seekers'' sold around ten million copies and was translated into more than forty languages. It was adapted for the stage by Terence Brady and

Charlotte Bingham The Hon. Charlotte Bingham (born 29 June 1942) is an English novelist who has written over 30 mainly historical romance novels and has also written for many television programmes including '' Upstairs, Downstairs''; ''Play for Today''; and '' ...

. Pilcher was said to be among the highest-earning women in Britain by the mid-1990s. Her other major novels include ''September'' (1990), ''Coming Home'' (1995) and ''Winter Solstice'' (2000). ''Coming Home'' won the

Romantic Novel of the Year Award The Romantic Novel of the Year Award is an award for romance novels since 1960, presented by Romantic Novelists' Association, and since 2003, the novellas, also won the Love Story of the Year (now RoNA Rose Award). In 2018, awards were given t ...

by Romantic Novelists' Association in 1996. The president of the association in 2019, the romance writer Katie Fforde, considers Pilcher to be "groundbreaking as she was the first to bring family sagas to the wider public".

Felicity Bryan Felicity Anne Bryan (16 October 1945 – 21 June 2020) was a British literary agent, the founder of Felicity Bryan Associates based in Oxford. She co-founded ''The Washington Post''s Laurence Stern Fellowship. It was announced in June 2020 that t ...

, in her obituary for ''The Guardian'', writes that Pilcher took the romance genre to "an altogether higher, wittier level"; she praises Pilcher's work for its "grittiness and fearless observation" and comments that it is often more prosaic than romantic. Pilcher retired from writing in 2000. Two years later she was created an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE).

TV adaptations

Her books are especially popular in Germany because the national television station ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) has produced more than a hundred of her stories as

TV movies A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

, starting with ''The Day of the Storm'' in 1993. A complete list can be found on the German Wikipedia: Rosamunde Pilcher (Filmreihe). These television films are some of the most popular programmes on ZDF. Pilcher was awarded the British Tourism Award in 2002 for the positive effect the books and the adaptations have had on Cornish tourism. Notable film locations include

Prideaux Place Prideaux Place is a grade I listed Elizabethan country house in the parish of Padstow, Cornwall, England. It has been the home of the Prideaux family for over 400 years. The house was built in 1592 by Sir Nicholas Prideaux (1550–1627), a dis ...

, a 16th-century mansion near Padstow. *A television adaptation of ''The Shell Seekers'' (dir. Waris Hussein), starring

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

, was made in 1989. *''September'' (dir. Colin Bucksey, 1996), starring

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in '' The Detective'', '' Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet Ride'', for which she re ...

, Michael York, Edward Fox, Jenny Agutter and Mariel Hemingway *A two-part television adaptation of ''Coming Home'' (dir. Giles Foster), made by Yorkshire Television, was broadcast in 1998, starring Keira Knightley, Emily Mortimer, Peter O'Toole,

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom '' Absolutely Fabulous'' ( ...

Penelope Keith Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, (née Hatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms ''The Good Life'' and '' To the Ma ...

, David McCallum, Paul Bettany, Patrick Ryecart and Susan Hampshire, among others. *'' Nancherrow'' (dir. Simon Langton, 1999), starring

Patrick Macnee Daniel Patrick Macnee (6 February 1922 – 25 June 2015) was a British film and television actor. After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he began his acting career in Canada. Despite having some small film roles, Macnee spent much ...

and Senta Berger *''Winter Solstice'' (dir. Martyn Friend, 2003), starring

Sinéad Cusack Sinéad Moira Cusack ( ) is an Irish actress. Her first acting roles were at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, before moving to London in 1969 to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has won the Critics' Circle and ''Evening Standard'' Awards f ...

, Peter Ustinov,

Jean Simmons Jean Merilyn Simmons, (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and afte ...

and Geraldine Chaplin *'' Summer Solstice'' (dir. Giles Foster, 2005), starring

, Honor Blackman and Franco Nero *''

'' (dir. Piers Haggard, 2006), starring Vanessa Redgrave and Maximilian Schell *''Four Seasons'' (dir. Giles Foster, 2008), starring

Tom Conti Tommaso Antonio Conti (born 22 November 1941) is a Scottish actor, theatre director, and novelist. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1979 for his performance in '' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' and was nominated for the Academy A ...

, Senta Berger, Michael York, Franco Nero, Juliet Mills and Frank Finlay *''Rosamunde Pilcher's Shades of Love'' (dir. Giles Foster, 2010), starring Charles Dance *''The Other Wife'' (dir. Giles Foster, 2012), starring Rupert Everett *''Unknown Heart'' (dir. Giles Foster, 2014), starring Greg Wise, James Fox,

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

and Julian Sands *''Valentine's Kiss'' (dir. Sarah Harding, 2015), starring

Rupert Graves Rupert Simeon Graves (born 30 June 1963) is an English film, television, and theatre actor. He is known for his roles in '' A Room with a View'', '' Maurice'', '' The Madness of King George'' and '' The Forsyte Saga''. From 2010 to 2017 he st ...

and John Hannah

Partial bibliography

Novels

As Jane Fraser

*''Half-Way to the Moon'' (1949) *''The Brown Fields'' (1951) *''Dangerous Intruder'' (1951) *''Young Bar'' (1952) *''A Day Like Spring'' (1953) *''Dear Tom'' (1954) *''Bridge of Corvie'' (1956) *''A Family Affair'' (1958) *''A Long Way from Home'' (1963) *''The Keeper's House'' (1963)

As Rosamunde Pilcher

*''A Secret to Tell'' (1955) *''On My Own'' (1965) *''Sleeping Tiger'' (1967) *''Another View'' (1969) *''The End of Summer'' (1971) *''Snow in April'' (1972) *''The Empty House'' (1973) *''The Day of the Storm'' (1975) *''Under Gemini'' (1977) *''Wild Mountain Thyme'' (1979) *''The Carousel'' (1982) *''Voices in Summer'' (1984) *''

'' (1987) *''

September September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern H ...

'' (1990) *''Coming Home'' (1995) *''Winter Solstice'' (2000)

Short-story collections

*''

The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories ''The Blue Bedroom'', published in 1985, was Rosamunde Pilcher's first collection of short stories. There are 13 stories, including the title story. The book has a preface by Lee Quarfoot, who was then fiction editor of '' Good Housekeeping Ma ...

'' (1985) *''Flowers in the Rain: And Other Stories'' (1991) *''The Key'' (1996) *''A Place Like Home'' (2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pilcher, Rosamunde 1924 births 2019 deaths British romantic fiction writers People from Lelant Officers of the Order of the British Empire Novelists from Cornwall 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers Women romantic fiction writers English women novelists Women's Royal Naval Service officers