Dame Rose Tremain (born 2 August 1943) is an English novelist, short story writer, and former Chancellor of the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

Life

Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on 2 August 1943 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to Viola Mabel Thomson and Keith Nicholas Home Thomson. Her paternal great-grandfather is William Thomson, who was

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

from 1862 to 1890. She was educated at

Francis Holland School Francis Holland School is the name of three separate private day schools for girls in central London, England, governed by the Francis Holland (Church of England) Schools Trust. The schools are located at Clarence Gate (near Regent's Park ...

, Crofton Grange School, the Sorbonne (1961–1962) and the

(BA, English Literature). She later went on to teach creative writing at the

from 1988 to 1995, and was appointed

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

in 2013. She married Jon Tremain in 1971 and they had one daughter, Eleanor, born in 1972, who became an actress. The marriage lasted about five years. Her second marriage, to theatre director Jonathan Dudley, in 1982, lasted about nine years; and she has been with Richard Holmes since 1992. She lives in

Thorpe St Andrew Thorpe St Andrew is a town and civil parish in the Broadland district of Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Yare, two miles east of the centre of Norwich, and is outside the boundary of the city. The civil parish has an area of and ...

near

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

Writing

Her influences include

William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel '' Lord of the Flies'' (1954), Golding published another 12 volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 19 ...

, author of ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is the 1954 debut novel of British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of prepubescent British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves that led to ...

'', and

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

's 1967 novel '' 100 Years of Solitude'' and the

magical realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical rea ...

style. She is a historical novelist who approaches her subjects "from unexpected angles, concentrating her attention on unglamorous outsiders". In 2009, she donated the short story ''The Jester of Astapovo'' to Oxfam's " Ox-Tales" project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Earth" collection. She became a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

in 1983. Already

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE), Tremain was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(DBE) in the

2020 New Year Honours The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to writing.

Awards and honours

*1984 Dylan Thomas Prize *1984 Giles Cooper Award, ''Temporary Shelter'' (play) *1989

Sunday Express Book of the Year The ''Daily Express#Sunday Express, Sunday Express'' Book of the Year also known as The Sunday Express Fiction Award was awarded between 1987 and 1993. Worth £20,000 for the winner and £1,000 for each of the five shortlisted authors, it was the ...

, '' Restoration'' *1989

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

, shortlist, ''Restoration'' *1992

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Un ...

, '' Sacred Country'' *1994 Prix Femina Étranger, ''Sacred Country'' *1999

Whitbread Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

, ''

Music and Silence ''Music and Silence'' is a historical novel written by English author Rose Tremain. The audiobook, released in 2009, is narrated by Michael Praed, Clare Wille, and Alison Dowling. ''Music and Silence'' is set in and around the court of Christia ...

'' *2008

Orange Prize The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...

, '' The Road Home'' *2012

Wellcome Book Prize Wellcome Book Prize (2009–2019 — paused) is an annual British literary award sponsored by Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 ...

, shortlist, '' Merivel: A Man of His Time'' *2013 Walter Scott Prize, shortlist, '' Merivel: A Man of His Time'' *2016

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of qual ...

for ''The Gustav Sonata'' *2016

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...

(novel), shortlist, ''The Gustav Sonata'' *2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, longlist, ''The Gustav Sonata'' *2017 Ribalow Prize for '' The Gustav Sonata'' *2024 Walter Scott Prize, shortlist, ''Absolutely and Forever''

Selected bibliography

Novels

* '' Sadler's Birthday'' (1976), * ''Letter to Sister Benedicta'' (1978), * ''The Cupboard'' (1981), * ''Journey to the Volcano'' (1985), * ''The Swimming Pool Season'' (1985), * '' Restoration'' (1989), * '' Sacred Country'' (1992), * ''The Way I Found Her'' (1997), * ''

'' (1999), * '' The Colour'' (2003), * '' The Road Home'' (2008), * ''

Trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person (see below), trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery ...

'' (2010

W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly '' The Norton ...

), * '' Merivel: A Man of His Time'' (2012), * '' The Gustav Sonata'' (2016), * ''Islands of Mercy'' (2020), * ''Lily: A Tale of Revenge'' (2021), * ''Absolutely & Forever'' (2023),

Collections of short stories

* ''The Colonel's Daughter and other stories'' (1983) * ''The Garden of the Villa Mollini and other stories'' (1987) * '' Evangelista's Fan and Other Stories'' (1994) * ''The Darkness of Wallis Simpson and other stories'' (2006) * ''The American Lover'' (2014)

For children

* '' Journey to the Volcano'' (1985)

Memoir

* ''Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life'' (2018)

References

External links

* Susanna Rustin
"Costume dramatist"
''The Guardian'', 10 May 2003. * Blake Wilson
"Stray Questions for: Rose Tremain"
(interview), ''The New York Times'', 15 May 2009. * Sian Cain
"Costa book award 2016 shortlists dominated by female writers"
''The Guardian'', 22 November 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tremain, Rose 1943 births Living people People educated at Francis Holland School 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists Alumni of the University of East Anglia Academics of the University of East Anglia Chancellors of the University of East Anglia Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Costa Book Award winners English women novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients Prix Femina Étranger winners University of Paris alumni Writers from London 21st-century English women writers 20th-century English women writers Writers from Norfolk People from Thorpe St Andrew