Remembering Rosamunde Pilcher 1924 - 2019

by Susan Roberts

"Rosamunde Pilcher, a British writer whose romance and generation-spanning novels like “The Shell Seekers” regularly made best-seller lists and were turned into television movies and mini-series, died on Wednesday in Dundee, Scotland. She was 94." ~ The New York Times


“Rosamunde Pilcher was groundbreaking as she was the first to bring family sagas to the wider public. Houses full of secrets, families full of lies, beautiful settings, page-turning plots,” said novelist Katie Fforde, who is president of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. “With The Shell Seekers she changed the face of romantic fiction.” ~ The Guardian

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It made me sad to find out that Rosamunde Pilcher died last week.  I have read most of her books and The Shell Seekers has a special place on my bookshelves because it was the first family saga that I ever read.

She was a prolific author who wrote over 25 books in a 50 year time period.  Several of her books were also made into TV movies for British TV.  My favorite books by her were The Shell Seekers, September and Coming Home.

If you've never read a Rosamunde Pilcher book, you might want to try one of the following.  If you have read her books, maybe it's time to re-read one of them.  I am currently re-reading The Shell Seekers.

The Shell Seekers

The Shell Seekers is a novel of connection: of one family, and of the passions and heartbreak that have held them together for three generations. The Shell Seekers is filled with real people--mothers and daughters, husband and lovers--inspired with real values. The Shell Seekers centers on Penelope Keeling--a woman you'll always remember in world you'll never forget. The Shell Seekers is a magical novel, the kind of reading experience that comes along only once in a long while.

At the end of a long and useful life, Penelope Keeling's prized possession is The Shell Seekers, painted by her father, and symbolizing her unconventional life, from bohemian childhood to wartime romance. When her grown children learn their grandfather's work is now worth a fortune, each has an idea as to what Penelope should do. But as she recalls the passions, tragedies, and secrets of her life, she knows there is only one answer...and it lies in her heart

Buy The Shell Seekers at Amazon

September

As spring comes to Scotland and the hills burst into life, a dance is planned for September. The invitations summon home the group of people Violet Aird has cared for most in her long life. The oldest, strongest and wisest of them all, she sees Alexa, her vulnerable granddaughter, find love for the first time, while the decision to send her little grandson away to school is driving parents Edmund and Virginia even further apart. Far from them all is Pandora, the glamorous, exciting girl who ran away twenty years before. All will converge on Scotland this September.

A place you will never forget
Rosamunde Pilcher's Scotland...where the fields flourish with greenery, the bills bloom with purple, and the lochs glitter with the bright blue of the sky.
A time you will never forget
September...when the heather is in full flower, the first chill of autumn cools the air, and the countryside stirs with the hunt, balls, dinner parties, and dance.

Buy September at Amazon

Coming Home

Against the backdrop of an elegant Cornwall mansion before World War II and a vast continent-spanning canvas during the turbulent war years, this involving story tells of an extraordinary young woman's coming of age, coming to grips with love and sadness, and in every sense of the term, coming home...

In 1935, Judith Dunbar is left behind at a British boarding school when her mother and baby sister go off to join her father in Singapore. At Saint Ursula's, her friendship with Loveday Carey-Lewis sweeps her into the privileged, madcap world of the British aristocracy, teaching her about values, friendship, and wealth. But it will be the drama of war, as it wrenches Judith from those she cares about most, that will teach her about courage...and about love.

Buy Coming Home at Amazon

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter. 

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