Trollope, Joanna

(British, 1943– )

Joanna Trollope was born in Gloucestershire, educated at Oxford, and is a descendant of Anthony Trollope. Initially, she began writing historical romances such as Parson Harding's Daughter (1979), set in eighteenth-century India. However, she only began to achieve mass popularity when she moved to contemporary novels. Her first, The Choir (1988), is set in a socialist-run city where the fate of the old cathedral choir hangs in the balance. A Village Affair (1989) followed, telling the story of a female friendship that develops into an affair, and rocks the society in the village where the events take place. The Best of Friends (1995) deals with adultery and its effects, while A Spanish Lover (1996) is self-explanatory. Trollope is a perceptive chronicler of the English middle classes and has enjoyed tremendous popular acclaim. She is credited with the invention of the sub-genre, ‘Aga saga’.

Katie Fforde, Angela Lambert, Mary Wesley  SA