Renowned Author Joanna Trollope Passes Away at 82

Renowned British author Joanna Trollope, celebrated for her contemporary novels and often dubbed the “Queen of the Aga Saga,” has died at 82 at her home in Oxfordshire.

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Dec 12, 2025 - 22:02

Renowned Author Joanna Trollope Passes Away at 82

The writer was known as the "Queen of the Aga Saga" because her novels often focused on romance and intrigue in Middle England, although she rejected this tag, calling it "patronizing."

In a statement, her daughters Louise and Antonia said their "beloved and inspirational mother" died peacefully at her home in Oxfordshire on Thursday.

Trollope's novels include The Rector's Wife, Marrying the Mistress, Second Honeymoon, and Daughters-in-Law.

Trollope's literary agent, James Gill, said in a statement: "We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Joanna Trollope, one of our most beloved, celebrated, and much-loved novelists.

"Joanna will be mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends, and – of course – her readers."

Trollope's books have been translated into more than 25 languages, and many have been adapted for television.

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Joanna Prior, CEO of publisher Pan Macmillan, described Trollope as a "treasured writer" who was "greatly admired for her sharp wit, sharp intelligence, witty company, and unwavering determination."

Trollope was a writer for more than five decades and one of the UK's best-known novelists.

She wrote more than 20 contemporary novels, including 2013's Sense and Sensibility, the lead title of HarperCollins' Austen Project.

The author also wrote 10 historical novels, published under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey.

Trollope occasionally wrote short stories and articles for magazines, chaired book prizes, wrote a 2006 study of women in the British Empire, Britannia's Daughters, and edited a 1993 anthology on rural life, The Country Habit.

She received an OBE for services to charity in 1996, and was made a CBE for services to literature in 2019.

Trollope was born in Gloucestershire and is the fifth-generation niece of English novelist Anthony Trollope.

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"I am not his direct descendant; although I am from the same family, I am from a different branch," she once told the Independent. "I admire him greatly, and I take to heart many of the things he said about writing."

She studied English at Oxford University and worked in the Foreign Office and as a teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1980.

Her early novels were all written using pseudonyms until the release of her first contemporary novel, "The Choir," in 1987.

Several of her later novels were adapted for the screen, including "A Village Affair," "The Choir," "Other People's Children," and "The Rector's Wife."

She told the Writers Write website that she prefers using pen and paper to write her novels.

She said, "I like the peace, familiarity, and simplicity. When things are going well, I can write like the wind—1,000 words an hour."

But the writing process was "very difficult."

She added, "But then, I think anything worthwhile is bound to be difficult."

"The most exciting moment for me is the penultimate chapter—the end is in sight, and clear, but the race activity isn't quite over yet."

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People liked the idea of her books being called the "Aga Saga," even though only two of Trollope's novels mentioned Aga.

She later admitted that she was "very tired of this kind of inaccurate and demeaning tag," calling it a "very bad thing" that "did me a lot of harm."

The "Aga Saga" tag is believed to have come from novelist Terence Blacker, but Trollope said: "Those who make a fuss about it don't take into account the amount of research I've done, which is very good and extensive.

"The name itself suggests the comfort of a region, and that's what readers enjoy. What I write in the books is very dark and difficult, but I will remain the Queen of the Aga Saga until I die." It's very upsetting, but it's better than being the Queen of Hearts."

Trollope's work covered a wide range of topics, from affairs, blended families, and adoption to parenting and marriage breakdown.

She also frequently wrote about second marriages, parenthood, and the pressures on the so-called "sandwich generation," who cared for both their children and their parents.

In "The Soldier's Wife," she depicted families grappling with the aftermath of a difficult Afghanistan tour.

Fellow novelist Fay Weldon once said that Trollope had "a knack for understanding the problems of the times."

Trollope said that reworking Austen's Sense and Sensibility in 2013 was "a great honor and an even greater challenge."

But she had previously said that comparing her own work to Austen's "makes me uneasy."

"There's a huge difference between being great and being good." "I know exactly which category I fall into and which category she falls into," she told the Independent.

"On a good day, I can be nice. I consider my writing to be modern day easy fiction, and adding qualifying adjectives to it doesn't really sit well with me."

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