Rosamunde Pilcher facts for kids

Rosamunde Pilcher, born Rosamunde Scott (September 22, 1924 – February 6, 2019), was a famous British writer. She wrote many romance novels, other stories, and short stories. She started writing in 1949 and stopped in 2000. Her books were very popular, selling over 60 million copies around the world. At the start of her career, she also used the pen name Jane Fraser. In 2001, she won the Weltbild Readers' Prize for her book Winter Solstice. She was also given the OBE award, which is a special honor in Britain.

About Rosamunde Pilcher's Life

Rosamunde Scott was born on September 22, 1924, in Lelant, a beautiful place in Cornwall, England. Her parents were Helen and Charles Scott. Her father worked for the British government in Burma before she was born. Rosamunde went to school at St. Clare in Penzance and then to Howell's School Llandaff. After that, she studied at Miss Kerr-Sanders' Secretarial College. She loved writing from a young age. She wrote her first story when she was just seven years old. By the time she was 15, her first short story was published.

Family and Home Life

From 1943 to 1946, Rosamunde served in the Women's Royal Naval Service. This was a special part of the navy for women during World War II. On December 7, 1946, she married Graham Hope Pilcher. He was a brave war hero and worked in the jute industry. Graham passed away in March 2009. After they married, Rosamunde and Graham moved to Dundee, Scotland. They had four children together: two daughters and two sons. One of their sons, Robin Pilcher, also became a novelist, just like his mother. Rosamunde Pilcher passed away on February 6, 2019. She was 94 years old and died after having a stroke.

Rosamunde Pilcher's Writing Journey

Rosamunde Pilcher's first book, a romance novel, came out in 1949. It was published by Mills and Boon, a well-known publisher of romance books. For this first book and ten others, she used the pen name Jane Fraser. In 1955, she started writing under her real name with a book called Secret to Tell. By 1965, she stopped using the pen name completely. From then on, all her novels were published under her own name.

Her Most Famous Books

A big moment in Rosamunde Pilcher's writing career happened in 1987. This is when she wrote The Shell Seekers. This was her fourteenth novel published under her real name. The story is about an older British woman named Penelope Keeling. Penelope looks back at her life through flashbacks and thinks about her relationships with her grown-up children. Penelope's life was not always extraordinary, but it covered a time of huge changes in the world. The book also shows what everyday life was like in Britain during World War II. The Shell Seekers was a massive success. It sold about ten million copies and was translated into more than forty languages. The book was even made into a play. By the mid-1990s, Rosamunde Pilcher was one of the highest-earning women in Britain because of her writing.

Other important novels by Rosamunde Pilcher include September (1990), Coming Home (1995), and Winter Solstice (2000). Her book Coming Home won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 1996. Another romance writer, Katie Fforde, said that Pilcher was "groundbreaking." She meant that Pilcher was one of the first to make family stories popular with many readers. Felicity Bryan, who wrote about Pilcher after she died, said that Pilcher made the romance genre "higher" and "wittier." She praised Pilcher's books for being realistic and observant, often more about real life than just romance. Rosamunde Pilcher stopped writing in 2000. Two years later, she was given the OBE award.

Rosamunde Pilcher's Books on TV

Rosamunde Pilcher's books are very popular in Germany. This is because the German TV station ZDF has made more than a hundred of her stories into TV movies. The first one was The Day of the Storm in 1993. These TV films are some of the most watched shows on ZDF. In 2002, Pilcher received the British Tourism Award. This was because her books and the TV shows helped bring many tourists to Cornwall. One famous place used for filming is Prideaux Place, a beautiful old mansion near Padstow.

• A TV movie of The Shell Seekers was made in 1989. It starred Angela Lansbury.
• September was made into a TV movie in 1996. It featured actors like Jacqueline Bisset and Michael York.
• Coming Home was a two-part TV series made in 1998. It had a big cast, including Keira Knightley and Peter O'Toole.
• Nancherrow was a TV movie from 1999.
• Winter Solstice was made into a TV movie in 2003. It starred Peter Ustinov and Jean Simmons.
• Summer Solstice was a TV movie from 2005.
• Another TV movie of The Shell Seekers was made in 2006. This one starred Vanessa Redgrave.
• Four Seasons was a TV movie from 2008.
• Rosamunde Pilcher's Shades of Love was a TV movie from 2010.
• The Other Wife was a TV movie from 2012.
• Unknown Heart was a TV movie from 2014.
• Valentine's Kiss was a TV movie from 2015.