Rosamunde Pilcher, née Scott, was born on 22 September 1924 in Lelant, Cornwall. She was educated at St. Clare's Polwithin, Cornwall and Howell's School Llandaff, South Wales. She went on to study at Miss Kerr-Sanders' Secretarial College.
She joined the Women's Royal Naval Service in 1943 and worked for the military until 1946, when she married Graham Hope Pilcher. They had four children: two daughters and two sons. The family lived in Scotland for many years, where Graham died in 2009. Pilcher still lives there. She has fourteen grandchildren and is now retired. One of her sons, Robin Pilcher, is also a successful novelist.
Pilcher began writing romances for Mills & Boon under the pseudonym Jane Fraser, and between 1949 and 1963 she had ten novels published.
In 1955 she published her first novel as Rosamunde Pilcher, A Secret to Tell. Two other Pilcher novels, April and On my Own soon followed. She wrote three plays between 1955 and 1957, one of which was produced in London. The works were entitled The Dashing White Sergeant, The Piper of Orde and The Tulip Major.
Pilcher wrote over thirty novels under her two names, as well as short stories in collections such as The Blue Bedroom (1985) and Flowers in the Rain (1991). She found international fame in 1987 with The Shell Seekers, published in the United Kingdom by Severn House. The book became her best selling novel, with over five million copies sold worldwide. The story has been adapted for stage and television.
Other international bestsellers include September, Coming Home and Winter Solstice. Over seventy of her stories have been adapted by the German television station Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen. In 2002 Pilcher received the British Tourism Award along with Dr Claus Beling, ZDF’s programme director, in recognition of the positive impact her stories have had on British tourism.
In 2002 Rosamund Pilcher was awarded the OBE.
In 2009 she gave an interview to Euromaxx TV in Berlin, Germany:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writing as Jane Fraser
Halfway to the Moon 1949
The Brown Fields 1951
Dangerous In truder 1951
Young Bar 1952
A Day Like Spring 1953
Dear Tom 1954
Bridge of Corvie 1956
A Family Affair 1958
A Long Way From Home 1963
The Keepers House 1963
Writing as Rosamunde Pilcher
A Secret to Tell 1955
April 1957
On My Own 1965
Sleeping Tiger 1967
Another View 1969
The End Of Summer 1971
Snow In April 1972
The Empty House 1973
The Day Of The Storm 1975
Under Gemini 1976
Wild Mountain Thyme 1978
The Carousel 1982
Voices In Summer 1984
The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories 1985
The Shell Seekers 1987
September 1990
Flowers In The Rain and Other Stories 1991
Coming Home 1995
The World of Rosamunde Pilcher 1996
The Key 1996
Christmas With Rosamunde Pilcher 1998
Shadows R Pilcher Bds 1999
Winter Solstice 2000
Short Stories
Home for the Day 1979 - Published as 'Louisa' in Good Housekeepingmagazine. The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
Toby 1983 - Published as 'Bright Promise' in Good Housekeeping magazine. The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
Miss Cameron at Christmas 1983 - Published as 'The Magic Season' in Good Housekeeping magazine. The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
The Blue Bedroom 1983 - Published as 'Wait for the Rainbow' in Good Housekeepingmagazine. The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
Marigold Garden 1983 - Published as 'Reunion with Julia' Good Housekeeping magazine. Flowers in the Rain and Other Stories.
Gilbert 1984 - Published as 'Man of the House' in Good Housekeeping magazine. The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
The Before-Christmas Present 1984 - Published as 'Change of Heart' Good Housekeeping magazine. The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
A Walk in the Snow 1984 - Published as 'Home for the Holiday' in Good Housekeeping magazine.
Tea with the Professor 1985 - Published in The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
Spanish Ladies 1985 - Published in The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
Amita 1985 - Published in The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
The White Birds 1985 - Published in The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
The Tree1985 - Published in The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
The House on the Hill 1985 - Published in The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
The Evening to Remember 1985 - Published in The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories.
The Doll's House 1986 - Published as 'The Gift of Love' Good Housekeeping magazine.
Cousin Dorothy 1986 - Published as 'Christmas Wedding' in Good Housekeeping magazine.
A Girl I Used to Know 1988 - Published as 'The Valiant Heart' in Good Housekeeping magazine.
Skates 1989 - Published in Ladies Home Journal.
Lalla 1990 - Published in Love Stories.
The Watershed 1990 - Published originally as 'The Anniversary Surprise' in an issue of Redbook.
Endings and Beginnings 1991 - Published in Flowers in the Rain and Other Stories.
Flowers in the Rain 1991 - Published in Flowers in the Rain and Other Stories.
Playing a Round with Love 1991 - Published in Flowers in the Rain and Other Stories.
Christabel 1991 - Published in Flowers in the Rain and Other Stories.
The Blackberry Day 1991 - Published in Ladies Home Journal.
The Red Dress 1991 - Published in Flowers in the Rain and Other Stories.
Weekend 1991 - Published in Flowers in the Rain and Other Stories.
Whistle for the Wind 1991 - Published in Good Housekeeping Magazine.
Last Morning 1991 - Published in Flowers in the Rain and Other Stories.
Awards
The Bambi Award – Film/TV/Media Germany 1997 for ‘September’
New York Times bestseller list for thirty consecutive weeks 1988
Winner of the UNDA Prize for Fiction - Monte Carlo Television Festival 1990
Romantic Novel of the Year Award - Best Novel Winner - 1996 Coming Home
The British Tourism Award 2002, with Dr Claus Beling, programme director for
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen TV station, Germany
BBC Big Read top 100 novels 2003
The Shell Seekers - Film, TV and theatrical adaptions
1989 - Television film of the book, starring Angela Lansbury as Penelope Keeling. Filmed on location in Ibiza, London, Cornwall and the Cotswolds. Nominated for an Emmy award.
2005 - The novel was adapted into a stage play by Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham.
2006 - A mini series made for television starring Vanessa Redgrave as Penelope Keeling. It was filmed in Cornwall.
The Shell Seekers was also released as an audio book read by Lynn Redgrave.