Bitchy reviews? They don’t bother queen of the Aga saga Joanna Trollope

"I don't really mind about the snobbery. I don't expect anyone to need a PhD to read my novels," says English author Joanna Trollope.

“It doesn’t matter to anyone where you come in society or in academia, the same things have the same effect on you. A cliché is only a cliché if it’s happening to someone else,” she told Róisín Ingle, presenter of the “Róisín Meets” podcast.

The 73-year-old has more than 30 years of writing under her belt and her 20th novel, City of Friends, has just been published.

Most of her novels are set in the English countryside, leading Trollope to gain the dubious title of “Queen of the Aga saga” even though she says there is “only an Aga in two of them”.

Some of her tougher reviews have been bitchy, she said, but she has taken constructive criticism from the more academic ones. In any case, she does not have to deal with too much of that now.

“One of the great advantages of getting older is that people stop being so vile. I’m a granny, I’m no longer competition.”

Success did not reach Trollope until she was in her 40s and she feels that was a good thing.

“It helps to have been knocked about a bit by life to have something to write about,” she said. Besides that, there is less chance of getting carried away with your success at that age unless “there’s something gravely the matter with your head”.

Women’s friendships are at the heart of her latest novel and Trollope said she cannot abide women not being “sisterly to one another”. She has taken “huge heart” from the feminism displayed at the recent Women’s Marches, however, and thinks it will be another two or three generations before the world feels the real benefit of such activism.

Maeve Binchy

Also on the podcast, Trollope spoke about her childhood growing up in the Cotswolds countryside, her friend the late Maeve Binchy and whether now is the time for her to slow down.

“I have no intention of stopping. I don’t see the point,” was her response when asked if she would continue to write novels.

“As long as human beings continue behaving as they are behaving, I will never run out of things to write about,” she said.

To listen to Joanna Trollope’s conversation with Róisín Ingle in full, go to iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or irishtimes.com

Joanna Trollope will be reading and discussing her work at the Mountains to Sea Festival in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin on March 25th. Tickets from mountainstosea.ie