Sophie Kinsella obituary

"Like her best-known heroine, Becky Bloomwood, Kinsella began her writing career in financial journalism, but, realising she was uninspired (and probably not very good at it), she wrote a book, The Tennis Party, that was published in 1995, when she was 25, under her given name, Madeleine Wickham (Maddy). This was followed by five subsequent standalone Aga sagas, which all achieved moderate chart success and critical acclaim."

"But in 1998, struck by an image of a horrified woman confronting a credit card bill with little idea of how her addictions had landed her there, she came up with a very different kind of protagonist and story, and changed her own fortunes completely. Becky Bloomwood was a screwball heroine in the 1940s mould who, despite making repeated financial and emotional mistakes, manages to win not just the man but the readers' sympathies."

Sophie Kinsella died of a brain tumour at 55. She sold more than 50 million copies and sustained a loyal readership with deceptively light, intricately plotted comic novels. She began in financial journalism and published The Tennis Party in 1995 under her given name, Madeleine Wickham. Five subsequent standalone Aga sagas achieved moderate chart success and critical acclaim. In 1998 an image of a woman confronting a credit card bill inspired the creation of Becky Bloomwood and Confessions of a Shopaholic, published as Sophie Kinsella. Becky became a screwball heroine who won readers' sympathies and spawned several bestselling sequels.

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