Dame Rose Tremain (born 2 August 1943) is an English novelist, short story writer, and former Chancellor of the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

Life

Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on 2 August 1943 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to Viola Mabel Thomson and Keith Nicholas Home Thomson. Her paternal great-grandfather is William Thomson, who was

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...

from 1862 to 1890. She was educated at

Francis Holland School Francis Holland School is the name of two separate private day schools for girls in central London, England, governed by the Francis Holland ( Church of England) Schools Trust. The schools are located at Clarence Gate (near Regent's Park NW1) ...

, Crofton Grange School, the Sorbonne (1961–1962) and the

(BA, English Literature). She later went on to teach creative writing at the

from 1988 to 1995, and was appointed

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

in 2013. 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 Thorpe St Andrew near

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

Writing

Her influences include

William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel '' Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 198 ...

, author of ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes ...

'', and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 1967 novel '' 100 Years of Solitude'' and the

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...

style. She is a historical novelist who approaches her subjects "from unexpected angles, concentrating her attention on unglamorous outsiders." In 2009, she donated the short story ''The Jester of Astapovo'' to Oxfam's "

Ox-Tales Ox-Tales refers to four anthologies of short stories written by 38 of the UK's best-known authors. All donated their stories to Oxfam. The books and stories are loosely based on the four elements: Earth, Fire, Air and Water. The Ox-Tales books w ...

" project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Earth" collection. She became a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, ele ...

in 1983. Already

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE), Tremain was appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(DBE) in the

2020 New Year Honours The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to writing.

Awards and honours

*2017

Ribalow Prize The Ribalow Prize is a literary prize awarded annually by ''Hadassah Magazine'' the best work of fiction in English on a Jewish theme. The prize, formally the Harold U. Ribalow Prize, was endowed in memory of Harold U. Ribalow, an American writer, ...

for '' The Gustav Sonata'' *2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, longlist, ''The Gustav Sonata'' *2016

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, the ...

(novel), shortlist, ''The Gustav Sonata'' *2016

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction The Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010.Walter Sc ...

, shortlist, '' Merivel: A Man of His Time'' *2012

Wellcome Trust Book Prize Wellcome Book Prize (2009–2019 — paused) is an annual British literary award sponsored by Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established i ...

, shortlist, '' Merivel: A Man of His Time'' *2008 Orange Prize, '' The Road Home'' *1999 Whitbread Award, ''

Music and Silence ''Music and Silence'' is a historical novel written by English author Rose Tremain. It is set in and around the court of Christian IV of Denmark in the years 1629 and 1630. The book won Best Novel at the 1999 Whitbread Awards. The main histor ...

'' *1994 Prix Femina Étranger, ''Sacred Country'' *1992

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

, '' Sacred Country'' *1989

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

, shortlist, ''Restoration'' *1989

Sunday Express Book of the Year The ''Sunday Express'' Book of the Year also known as The Sunday Express Fiction Award was awarded between 1987 and 1993. Worth £20,000 for the winner and £1,000 for each of the five shortlisted authors, it was the most lucrative fiction prize i ...

, '' Restoration'' *1984 Giles Cooper Award, ''Temporary Shelter'' (play) *1984

Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published w ...

Selected bibliography

Novels

* '' Sadler's Birthday'' (1976), * ''Letter to Sister Benedicta'' (1978), * ''The Cupboard'' (1981), * ''Journey to the Volcano'' (1985), * ''The Swimming Pool Season'' (1985), * '' Restoration'' (1989), * '' Sacred Country'' (1992), * ''The Way I Found Her'' (1997), * ''

'' (1999), * ''

The Colour ''The Colour'' is a 2003 novel by Rose Tremain, which was nominated for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. It is set in New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists o ...

'' (2003), * '' The Road Home'' (2008), * ''

Trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, woundi ...

'' (2010

W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton An ...

), * '' Merivel: A Man of His Time'' (2012), * '' The Gustav Sonata'' (2016), * ''Islands of Mercy'' (2020), * ''Lily: A Tale of Revenge'' (2021),

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)

Memoir

* ''Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life'' (2018)

References

External links

* Susanna Rustin
"Costume dramatist"
''The Guardian'', 10 May 2003. * Blake Wilson
"Stray Questions for: Rose Tremain"
(interview), ''The New York Times'', 15 May 2009. * Sian Cain
"Costa book award 2016 shortlists dominated by female writers"
''The Guardian'',, 22 November 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tremain, Rose 1943 births Living people People educated at Francis Holland School 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists Alumni of the University of East Anglia Academics of the University of East Anglia Chancellors of the University of East Anglia Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Costa Book Award winners English women novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients Prix Femina Étranger winners University of Paris alumni Writers from London 21st-century English women writers 20th-century English women writers Writers from Norfolk People from Thorpe St Andrew