British novelist Rosamunde Pilcher, author of "the sweeping, bestselling family saga The Shell Seekers," died February 6, the Guardian reported. She was 94. Author Robin Pilcher described his mother as a "a wonderful, rather alternative-thinking mother--I think she might have liked the description bohemian--who touched and influenced the lives of many of all ages, not only through her writing but through personal friendships."
The Shell Seekers, Pilcher's 14th novel, was published in 1987 and spent 49 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists, selling more than 10 million copies. A TV adaptation starred Vanessa Redgrave. Pilcher's other books include Coming Home, September and Winter Solstice.
"Rosamunde Pilcher was groundbreaking as she was the first to bring family sagas to the wider public," said novelist Katie Fforde, president of the Romantic Novelists' Association. "Houses full of secrets, families full of lies, beautiful settings, page-turning plots. With The Shell Seekers she changed the face of romantic fiction."
Sue Fletcher, Pilcher's editor at Hodder & Stoughton, observed that "she was in her nineties, but I think the world is a poorer place without her. She was a wonderful writer. The warmth and humanity of her writing was matched only by the warmth and humanity of her personality. She was so much fun, and a much-loved friend."
Pilcher "began writing at the age of seven and published her first story when she was 19," the Guardian reported. She wrote for Mills & Boon under the name Jane Fraser in the late 1940s, and published her first novel as Rosamunde Pilcher, A Secret to Tell, in 1955. "Today, Rosamunde Pilcher tours are run in Cornwall, taking busloads of tourists to the locations in her books, and more than 60 million copies of her books have been sold around the world."
Hodder & Stoughton CEO Jamie Hodder Williams told the Bookseller that Pilcher was "a one off--charming, trenchant, witty and powerful.... She was enormous fun to spend time with, and Sue Fletcher her editor and Kerry Hood her publicist developed very close and long-standing bonds. Her heartwarming novels about families and the places that mean most to them inspired generations of future writers. She will be sorely missed but I hope millions more readers continue to fall in love with her work."