Rose Tremain

Rose Tremain CBE FRSL (born 2 August 1943) is an English novelist, short story writer, and former Chancellor of the University of East Anglia.

Life

Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on 2 August 1943 in London. Her paternal great-grandfather is William Thomson, who was Archbishop of York from 1862 to 1890. She was educated at Francis Holland School, Crofton Grange School, the Sorbonne (1961–1962) and the University of East Anglia (BA, English Literature).^[1] She later went on to teach creative writing at the University of East Anglia from 1988 to 1995, and was appointed Chancellor in 2013.^[2]

She married Jon Tremain in 1971 and they had one daughter, Eleanor, born in 1972, who became an actress. The marriage lasted about five years. Her second marriage, to theatre director Jonathan Dudley, in 1982, lasted about nine years; and she has been with Richard Holmes since 1992. She lives in Norfolk.^[3][4]

Writing

Her influences include William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel 100 Years of Solitude and the magical realism style.

She is a historical novelist who approaches her subjects "from unexpected angles, concentrating her attention on unglamorous outsiders."^[1]

In 2009, she donated the short story The Jester of Astapovo to Oxfam's "Ox-Tales" project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Earth' collection.^[5]

Awards and honours

• 2013 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, shortlist, Merivel: A Man of His Time^[6][7]
• 2012 Wellcome Trust Book Prize, shortlist, Merivel: A Man of His Time^[8]
• 2008 Orange Prize, The Road Home
• 1999 Whitbread Award, Music and Silence
• 1994 Prix Femina Étranger, Sacred Country
• 1992 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Sacred Country
• 1989 Sunday Express Book of the Year, Restoration
• 1984 Giles Cooper Award, Temporary Shelter (play)

Selected bibliography

Novels

• Sadler's Birthday (1976), ISBN 0-356-08387-X
• Letter to Sister Benedicta (1978), ISBN 0-354-04353-6
• The Cupboard (1981), ISBN 0-354-04769-8
• Journey to the Volcano (1985), ISBN 0-241-11651-1
• The Swimming Pool Season (1985), ISBN 0-241-11496-9
• Restoration (1989), ISBN 0-241-12695-9
• Sacred Country (1992), ISBN 1-85619-118-4
• The Way I Found Her (1997), ISBN 1-85619-409-4
• Music and Silence (1999), ISBN 1-86056-027-X
• The Colour (2003), ISBN 0-7011-7296-7
• The Road Home (2008), ISBN 978-0-09-947846-1
• Trespass (2010 W.W. Norton), ISBN 978-0-099-47845-4
• Merivel: A Man of His Time (2012), ISBN 978-0701185206
• The Gustav Sonata (2016), ISBN 9781784740030

Collections of short stories

• The Colonel's Daughter and other stories (1983)
• The Garden of the Villa Mollini and other stories (1987)
• Evangelista's Fan and other stories (1994)
• The Darkness of Wallis Simpson and other stories (2006)
• The American Lover (2014)

For children

• Journey to the Volcano (1985)

References

External links

• An article in The Guardian.
• New York Times interview (15 May 2009).