Sophie Kinsella, writer of Shopaholic books, dies at 55 after cancer diagnosis

Madeleine Wickham, known for writing the bestselling novel Confessions of a Shopaholic under her pen name Sophie Kinsella, has died aged 55.

- Ella Creamer

Wickham, nicknamed “the queen of romantic comedy” by novelist Jojo Moyes, wrote more than 30 books for adults, children and teenagers, which have sold more than 45m copies.

In April 2024, Wickham announced that she had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer, at the end of 2022 and had undergone radiotherapy and chemotherapy after surgery.

Wickham was born in London in 1969. She studied music at New College, Oxford, before switching to philosophy, politics and economics.

After graduation, she became a financial journalist, but said she found the job dull. During the long commute to central London, she would read paperbacks by the likes of Mary Wesley and Joanna Trollope, and began wanting to write a book.

At 24, her first novel was published. The Tennis Party told the story of four couples who take part in a weekend tournament. “My overriding concern was that I didn’t write the autobiographical first novel,” Wickham told the Guardian in 2012.