'Confessions of a Shopaholic’ Author Sophie Kinsella Dead at 55

Author Sophie Kinsella, best known for writing the 2000 novel "Confessions of a Shopaholic,” died December 10. She was 55.

Kinsella, a wife and mother of five, was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer in 2022.

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

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

The message ended with, "She will be missed so much our hearts are breaking💔💔💔.”

Kinsella shared her cancer diagnosis in 2024 on Instagram. She wrote at the time, “At the end of 2022 I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer. 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.’”

She went on, “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. 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!” 

Sophie went on to write a book called “What Does It Feel Like?” about a novelist facing a cancer diagnosis. 

She wrote in the intro, "'What Does It Feel Like?' is fiction, but it is my most autobiographical work to date. Eve’s story is my story. Why did I write such a personal book? I have always processed my life through writing. Hiding behind my fictional characters, I have always turned my own life into a narrative. It is my version of therapy, maybe. Writing is my happy place, and writing this book, although tough going at times, was immensely satisfying and therapeutic for me.”

Kinsella began writing in her twenties under her given name Madeleine Wickham. After publishing a several books as Wickham, she changed to the pseudonym Sophie Kinsella for her “Confessions of a Shopaholic” series.

In 2019, she told Woman & Home Magazine, “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. 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.”

The “Confessions” series centers on shopaholic Becky Bloomwood, and Kinsella told People magazine in 2010, "When I meet readers, what’s so great is that it feels like we have a friend in common. 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 book was turned into a movie starring Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy in 2009.

Kinsella also wrote many stand-alone novels, as well as some children’s books.