Sophie Kinsella, the pen name of Madeleine Sophie Wickham, has died at 55. She announced last year that she had been diagnosed in late 2022 with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Her death was confirmed on Instagram, where her family said that despite her illness she bore it with unimaginable courage, counted herself blessed to have wonderful family and friends and the extraordinary success of her writing career, and was forever grateful for the love she received.
Kinsella’s Shopaholic novels were a global sensation, selling tens of millions of copies and translated into dozens of languages. The first two books in the series were adapted into the 2009 film Confessions of a Shopaholic, starring Isla Fisher.
In a 2019 NPR interview, Kinsella said her novels often focused on young women navigating opportunities, careers and relationships, even though she was herself a mother of five. She described that life stage as exciting and full of possibilities, and said chance encounters and open horizons fueled her storytelling.
