Listen to this article
Estimated 2 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.
Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling author behind the Confessions of a Shopaholic book series, has died after a battle with brain cancer. She was 55.
The British author, whose real name was Madeleine Sophie Wickham, sold more than 50 million books worldwide, including a popular series following the life of a fictional shopping-addicted woman in London. Some of the Shopaholic books were later adapted into a movie.
Wickham’s family shared news of her death on social media, saying the author died peacefully, “with her final days filled with her true loves: family and music and warmth and Christmas and joy.”
Wickham’s literary agent also confirmed her passing to CBC News in an email.
The writer first announced that she had glioblastoma — an aggressive form of brain cancer — in April 2024, after she was first diagnosed in 2022.
At the time, Wickham said she was undergoing radiation therapy after having surgery.
Glioblastomas are the most common high-grade brain tumours among adults, according to the Brain Tumor Charity. The charity says only 25 per cent of patients live longer than a year after diagnosis, while only five per cent of patients survive more than five years.
“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,” Wickham’s family wrote in the announcement. “She took nothing for granted and was forever grateful for the love she received.”
