- - Sophie Kinsella, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” Author, Dies at 55

Victoria Edel, Rachel McRadyDecember 10, 2025 at 7:11 AM

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Sophie Kinsella in 2019. -

Confessions of a Shopaholic author Sophie Kinsella has died at the age of 55

Kinsella's family shared the news in a statement on social media on Wednesday, Dec. 10

Kinsella had been diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of glioblastoma in 2022

British author Sophie Kinsella has died at the age of 55.

Her family confirmed the tragic news in an Instagram post on Wednesday, Dec. 10.

Kinsella, who is best known for her 2000 novel Confessions of a Shopaholic which was made into a 2009 film starring Isla Fisher, was diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of glioblastoma brain cancer in 2022.

"We are heartbroken to announce the passing this morning of our beloved Sophie (aka Maddy, aka Mummy)," the family shared on social media. "She died peacefully, with her final days filled with her true loves: family and music and warmth and Christmas and joy."

The family continued, "We can’t imagine what life will be like without her radiance and love of life."

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Acknowledging Kinsella's brain cancer, the statement noted, "Despite her illness, which she bore with unimaginable courage, Sophie counted herself truly blessed - to have such wonderful family and friends, and to have had the extraordinary success of her writing career. She took nothing for granted and was forever grateful for the love she received."

They concluded the post writing, "She will be missed so much our hearts are breaking💔💔💔."

Kinsella was born Madeleine Sophie Wickham in London in 1969. She initially studied music at Oxford but switched to politics, philosophy and economics.

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Sophie Kinsella in 1999.

After graduation, she got a job as a financial journalist. “To be honest, it was the only job I could get,” she told The Guardian in 2012. “I didn't really have a game plan. And then it just hit me that actually, I want to make it up. It was reading paperbacks on the way to work, thinking that's what I want to do. And I thought, I can tell a story like this." At age 24, she wrote her first novel, The Tennis Party. The book was a success, and Kinsella published six more novels under her real name.

Then she had the idea for a new novel — The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (which was also published as Confessions of a Shopaholic). “I changed my name to Sophie Kinsella (Sophie is my middle name and Kinsella is my mother’s maiden name) because the novels were so different to my Madeleine Wickham books, which have darker themes and characters,” she told Woman & Home Magazine in 2019. “I had found a new voice and way of writing, and I found it addictive. Sophie is faster and funny, with a sense of the ridiculous that I never had before.”

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Sophie Kinsella in 2004.

The book heroine was Becky Bloomwood, a financial journalist with a serious shopping problem. Kinsella went on to publish nine more novels in the series, all about her intrepid protagonist. “When I meet readers, what’s so great is that it feels like we have a friend in common,” she told PEOPLE in 2010. “We all know Becky, and that’s really fun! Somehow, it’s not like meeting somebody for the first time.… it’s like meeting a friend of a friend. It’s a wonderful feeling.”

The first two books in the series inspired the 2009 film Confessions of a Shopaholic, starring Fisher and Hugh Dancy.

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Sophie Kinsella in 2009.

Kinsella also wrote numerous standalone novels, including 2023’s The Burnout. In 2014, she published Finding Audrey, her first young adult novel, and she also published a series of picture books.

Many of her books centered around people in their twenties. “I just think there's something exciting about the time of life when you're on the lookout for opportunities in all directions... everything is ahead of you,” she told NPR in 2019. “And for me, the wide-open horizon is so exciting. . . . I left my job to write novels when I was 20-something, and in my head, I'm pretty much still that 20-something, and looking at the grown-ups.”

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Sophie Kinsella in 2017.

Kinsella’s novels became popular at a time when much of women’s fiction and romances were derisively called "chick lit." Kinsella didn’t see the label as totally negative. “I always thought 'chick lit' meant third-person contemporary funny novels, dealing with issues of the day,” she told The Guardian. “I mean, it's not the ideal term; when I'm asked to describe what I do, I say I write romantic comedies, 'cause that's what I feel they are. But I'm quite pragmatic."

Still, she noted, “With Sophie Kinsella, some people are keen to say, 'Oh, that's not my kind of thing'. I don't think anyone ever said that to me as Madeleine Wickham."

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Sophie Kinsella in 2016.

Kinsella married Henry Wickham, whom she met at Oxford, in 1991, right after graduation. "I like to think that I had enough of a sense of what was good for me," she told The Irish Independent in 2019. "We were lucky to find each other. We were fortunate to have, almost the courage to say, 'Right this is it. . . . We should be together. We'll be a great team.'” Wickham worked as a headmaster before becoming his wife’s literary manager. They shared five children: Freddy, Hugo, Oscar, Rex and Sybella.

In 2024, Kinsella revealed she had been diagnosed with brain cancer. “At the end of 2022 I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “I did not share this before because I wanted to make sure that my children were able to hear and process the news in privacy and adapt to our ‘new normal.’”

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Sophie Kinsella.

“I have been under the care of the excellent team at University College Hospital in London and have had successful surgery and subsequent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which is still ongoing,” she continued. “At the moment all is stable and I am feeling generally very well, though I get very tired and my memory is even worse than it was before!” She thanked her family, friends and medical team for their “incredible support” during her illness.

In June 2024, she announced a new novella, What Does It Feel Like?, about “Eve, a renowned novelist facing a devastating cancer diagnosis and learning to live and love anew.” Kinsella said in a statement at the time that this was her “most autobiographical work to date” and that “Eve’s story is my story.”

“Writing is my happy place and writing this book, although tough going at times, was immensely satisfying and therapeutic for me,” she added.

Kinsella is survived by her husband and children.

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