Sophie Kinsella, the Shopaholic series’ bestselling author, dies aged 55

Sophie Kinsella, the highly popular British author whose bestselling novels have been translated the world over, notably the Shopaholic series, died just before her 56th birthday from a brain tumour she had been diagnosed with in late 2022.

Kinsella faced her condition with great courage, and described her experience in her last book, published in 2024, poignantly entitled What Does It Feel Like?

“We are heartbroken to announce the death this morning of our beloved Sophie (alias Maddy, alias Mummy),” posted Kinsella’s family, her husband Henry Wickham and their five children, as they gave the news of the author’s passing. “Despite her illness, which she endured with unimaginable courage, Sophie considered herself very fortunate to have such a wonderful family and friends, and to have had an extraordinarily successful writing career. She took nothing for granted and has always been grateful for the love she received,” the family added.

Kinsella, whose real name was Madeleine Sophie Townley, would have turned 56 in two days’ time and, as her family pointed out, she and her loved ones tried to make the most of their final days together. Kinsella, whose books sold 50 million copies and have defined chick lit as a genre, revealed her health problems to her many readers last year. She was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, and underwent surgery as well as several rounds of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

“I didn’t reveal this earlier because I wanted to make sure my children were able to hear and process the news privately, adapting to our new normal,” she told her community of fans. Many of them, upon learning of the author’s death, paid tribute to her on social media.

The search for positive meaning despite a traumatic illness was at the heart of Kinsella’s last novel, in which the protagonist, a famous writer called Eve, begins to gather the memories of what really matters to her: long walks holding her husband’s hand, evenings spent playing parlour games with her family, and the treat of buying a dress she likes. The novel is made up of short chapters, each attempting to answer the most difficult issues shared by those navigating the labyrinth of pain. The book was also a way of staying close to those dealing with cancer, as Kinsella herself did in some of her statements after she revealed her illness.

Kinsella was born in the London suburb of Wandsworth on December 12, 1970. She graduated in PPE at Oxford University and briefly worked as a finance journalist before starting to write romance novels aged 24. She gained global fame – after publishing a few well-liked novels under her real name – with The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, published in 2000 as Sophie Kinsella, soon followed by Shopaholic Abroad. Then came another eight titles in the Shopaholic series and 13 standalone novels, from Can You Keep a Secret? (2003) to The Burnout (2023) and What Does It Feel Like? (2024), as well as a handful of young adult novels. The first two Shopaholic books were adapted into the film Confessions of a Shopaholic, released in February 2009 with Isla Fisher in the title role.

In 1991, Kinsella married Henry Wickham, whom she had met at Oxford. Together they had five children, and lived between Dorset and London, where she was treated.