Rosamunde Pilcher

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Rosamunde Pilcher

Born 22 September 1924 (1924-09-22) (age 83)
Lelant, Cornwall, United Kingdom)
Pen name Jane Fraser
Occupation Novelist
Nationality British
Writing period 1949 - 2000
Genres Romance

Rosamunde Pilcher OBE (maiden name Scott, born 22 September 1924) is a British author of romance novels and mainstream women's fiction. Early in her career she was also published under the pen name Jane Fraser. Pilcher retired from writing in 2000.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Rosamunde Pilcher was born in Lelant, Cornwall on September 22, 1924. She attended St. Clare's Polwithen and Howell's School Llandaff before going on to Miss Kerr-Sanders' Secretarial College.[1] She began writing for herself when she was seven, and published her first short story when she was only 18.[2]

From 1943 through 1946, Pilcher served with the Women's Naval Service. On December 7, 1946 she married Graham Hope Pilcher.[1] They moved to Dundee, Scotland, where she still lives today. Besides being a housewife and mother of four children, she wrote short stories and love stories for women's magazines at her kitchen table using the pen name Jane Fraser.

[edit] Writing career

In 1949, Pilcher's first book, a romance novel, was published by Mills and Boon, under the pseudonym Jane Fraser. She published an additional 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.[1]

At the beginning writing was a refuge from her daily life. She claims that writing saved her marriage. The real breakthrough in Pilcher's career came in 1987, when she wrote the family saga, The Shell Seekers. Since then her books have made her one of the more successful contemporary female authors.

One of her most famous works, The Shell Seekers, focusses on Penelope Stern Keeling, an elderly British woman 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."[2] The novel describes the everday details of what life during World War II was like for some of those who lived in Britain.[2] The Shell Seekers sold more than five million copies worldwide and was adapted for the stage by Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham.[3]

Her books are especially popular in Germany due to the fact that the national TV station ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) has produced more than 70 of her stories for TV. These TV films are some of the most popular programmes on ZDF. Both Pilcher and ZDF programme director Dr. Claus Beling were awarded the British Tourism Award in 2002 for the positive effect the books and the TV versions had on tourism.

[edit] Later years

Pilcher retired from writing in 2000.[1] Two years later she was created an Officer of the British Empire (OBE).[4]

She has four children and fourteen grandchildren.[3] Her son, Robin Pilcher, is also a novelist.[5]

[edit] DVD Release

Rosamunde Pilcher's Coming Home, Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice are all available on DVD in the UK.

[edit] Partial bibliography

[edit] Novels

[edit] As Jane Fraser

  • 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)
  • The Keeper's House (1963)
  • A Long Way from Home (1963)

[edit] As Rosamund Pilcher

  • A Secret to Tell (1955)
  • On My Own (1965)
  • Sleeping Tiger (1967)
  • Another View (1969)
  • The End of Summer (1971)
  • The Empty House (1973)
  • The Day of the Storm (1975)
  • Under Gemini (1976)
  • Wild Mountain Thyme (1979)
  • The Carousel (1982)
  • Voices in Summer (1984)
  • The Shell Seekers (1988)
  • September (1990)
  • Snow in April (1991)
  • Coming Home (1995)
  • The Key (1996)
  • Shadows (1999)
  • Flowers (1999)
  • Winter Solstice (2000)

[edit] Omnibus

  • The Day of the Storm / The End of the Summer (1979)
  • Three Books by Rosamunde Pilcher (1989)
  • Rosamunde Pilcher: Under Gemini/the Empty House/the Day of the Storm/Another View/Boxed Set (1990)
  • The Rosamunde Pilcher Collection: Wild Mountain Thyme, Empty House and End of the Summer (1991)
  • The Shell Seekers / Wild Mountains Thyme / The Day of the Storm (1994)
  • Three Complete Novels/September/Voices in Summer/the Carousel (1995)
  • The Shell Seekers Collection (1996)
  • Rosamunde Pilcher: A New Collection of Three Complete Books (1997)
  • Rosamunde Pilcher: A Third Collection of Three Complete Novels (1999)
  • Another View / End of Summer (2000)
  • End of Summer / September (2003)
  • The Blue Bedroom / The White Birds (2005)

[edit] Collections

  • The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories (1985)
  • Rosamunde Pilcher: Wild Mountain Thyme/Sleeping Tiger/the End of Summer/Snow in April/Boxed Set (1990)
  • Rosaminde Pilcher: Flowers in the Rain: And Other Stories (1991) Sequel to Blue Bedroom (above) - NEL (New English Library - UK)
  • The Blackberry Day: And Other Stories (1992)
  • World of Rosamunde Pilcher (1995)
  • Christmas with Rosamunde Pilcher (1998)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Bruns, Ann (August 11, 2000). Author Profile: Rosamunde Pilcher. Bookreporter.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.
  2. ^ a b c Binchy, Maeve (February 7, 1988), “War and Change Come to Temple Pudley”, New York Times, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE0D7153DF934A35751C0A96E948260&sec=&pagewanted=print>. Retrieved on 19 July 2007 
  3. ^ a b Butt, Riaza (February 25, 2004), “Pilcher's winning formula”, Manchester Evening News, <http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/arts/s/82/82350_pilchers_winning_formula.html>. Retrieved on 19 July 2007 
  4. ^ Honours in the arts world. BBC News (December 31, 2001). Retrieved on 2007-07-19.
  5. ^ Talking with Robin Pilcher. AudioFile (April-May 2004). Retrieved on 2007-07-19.

[edit] External links