Rose Tremain

Rose Tremain studied at University of East Anglia, University of Paris and Francis Holland School. The recorded working language is English. Employment is recorded with University of East Anglia. Positions recorded include Booker Prize judge. Works named in the authority record are Music and Silence. Distinctions recorded are Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Costa Book Awards, Prix Femina étranger and James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

• Name — Rose Tremain • Honorific Suffix — FRSL • Born — 2 August 1943 • Birthplace — London, England • Birth Name — Rosemary Jane Thomson • Occupation — Novelist • Language — English • Education — Sorbonne University of East Anglia (BA) • Awards — Orange Prize (2008) Whitbread Award (1999) Prix Femina Étranger (1994) James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1992) Sunday Express Book of the Year (1989) Giles Cooper Award (1984) • Honorific Prefix — Dame

Tremain was born on 2 August 1943 in London to Viola Mabel Thomson and Keith Nicholas Home Thomson. 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). She later went on to teach creative writing at the University of East Anglia from 1988 to 1995, and was appointed Chancellor in 2013. She married Jon Tremain in 1971 and they had one daughter. The marriage lasted about five years. Her second marriage, to theatre director Jonathan Dudley, in 1982, lasted about nine years; and she has been in a relationship with Richard Holmes since 1992. She lives in Thorpe St Andrew near Norwich in Norfolk.

Tremain's influences include William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, and Gabriel García Márquez's 1967 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". 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. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1983. Already Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Tremain was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to writing.

• 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), • Music and Silence (1999), • The Colour (2003), • The Road Home (2008), • Trespass (2010 W.W. Norton), • Merivel: A Man of His Time (2012), • The Gustav Sonata (2016), • Islands of Mercy (2020), • Lily: A Tale of Revenge (2021), • Absolutely & Forever (2023),

• Journey to the Volcano (1985)

• Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life (2018)

• 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)