Sophie Kinsella, aka Madeleine Wickham, raced to the top of the bestseller lists in September 2000 when her novel The Secret Dreamworld of A Shopaholic was published by Black Swan. The book’s heroine, Becky Bloomwood – a fun and feisty financial journalist who loves shopping but is hopeless with money – captured the hearts of readers worldwide and she has since gone on to further adventures in Shopaholic Abroad, Shopaholic Ties the Knot and Shopaholic and Sister, and has sold over two million copies to date. Sophie’s two stand-alone novels, Can You Keep A Secret and The Undomestic Goddess were both number one bestsellers, and have sold in the region of three quarters of a million copies each.
Sophie wrote her first novel under her real name, Madeleine Wickham, at the tender age of 24, whilst she was working as a financial journalist. The Tennis Party was immediately hailed as a success by critics and the public alike, and became a top ten bestseller. She has since published no fewer than six more novels as Madeleine Wickham, A Desirable Residence, Swimming Pool Sunday, The Gatecrasher, The Wedding Girl, Cocktails for Three and Sleeping Arrangements.
She submitted her first “Sophie Kinsella” novel anonymously to Black Swan, who were already her publishers, and it was snapped up without her editors knowing that she was already one of their authors. It was with the appropriately titled Can You Keep A Secret? that Sophie revealed her true identity for the first time.
Sophie was born in London. She studied music at New College, Oxford, but after a year switched to politics, philosophy and economics and gained a first after only two years studying. She has worked as a teacher and as a financial journalist. Married to a former opera singer, she has accompanied her husband professionally on the piano in concert tours of the Middle East and Africa. She lives in London with her husband and 3 children.