Sophie Kinsella, Bestseller Behind ‘Shopaholic,’ Dies at 55

 

Sophie Kinsella, the beloved British author known for her light-hearted Shopaholic series, passed away on Wednesday at age 55. The first two books in the series were later adapted into a Disney movie starring Isla Fisher.

Her family shared the news on Instagram. In April 2024, Kinsella had revealed that she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a fast-growing brain cancer, at the end of 2022.

“She passed away peacefully, surrounded by the things she loved most — her family, music, warmth, Christmas, and joy,” her family wrote.

Kinsella wrote around 30 books and sold more than 45 million copies in over 60 countries. Her debut novel, The Tennis Party, came out in 1995, and her most recent book, The Burnout, was released in October 2023.

Her popular Shopaholic series began in 2000 with The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic. It introduced readers to Becky Bloomwood, a stylish but overspending financial journalist who constantly lands herself in trouble. The 2009 movie Confessions of a Shopaholic was based on the series, though it moved Becky’s story to Manhattan.

Another of her novels, Can You Keep a Secret? (2003), became a 2019 romantic comedy starring Alexandra Daddario and Tyler Hoechlin. A film based on her 2008 novel Remember Me? — about a woman with amnesia who wakes up with a life she doesn’t recognize — was announced in 2022, with Dakota Fanning set to star.

Kinsella often said she was inspired by Jane Austen because they both loved writing imperfect, relatable heroines. “I don’t connect with stories about women who travel the world, have glamorous lives, and buy companies,” she said in 2012. “I write women we can relate to — the ones we feel for and understand.”

Born Madeleine Sophie Wickham on December 12, 1969, in London, she grew up in Wimbledon. Her parents were teachers, and she created her pen name using her middle name and her mother’s maiden name.

She was a pianist during her teens and attended Sherbourne School for Girls before studying at Oxford. She started out majoring in music but later switched to philosophy, politics, and economics. After graduating, she worked as a junior assistant for a magazine aimed at retirees and later as a financial journalist.

While working full-time, she wrote The Tennis Party during nights and weekends. She said she deliberately avoided writing a typical “debut novel about herself” and instead focused on older characters and different lives to prove she was a versatile writer.

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