Joanna Trollope on ditching ‘Aga sagas’ for career women and gay relationships

by

Joanna Trollope, who passed away at the age of 82, was a novelist known for her insightful portrayal of the challenges facing people today. While frequently – and unfairly – called the “queen of the Aga saga,” she disliked the label, believing it didn’t reflect the depth of her writing.

As Fay Weldon observed, Anthony Trollope was remarkably skilled at identifying the central issues of his era, whether he was exploring themes of marriage, family, religion, or the changing roles of women.

This tendency is evident in a 2017 interview with TopMob, recently shared in remembrance of her, where Trollope talks about her novel City of Friends, which explores themes of women, power, and careers in the financial world.

She honestly explains that she wanted to write about professional women and define their success on their own terms, rather than through a male lens. Even at 73, she was a keen observer of the world, always questioning things and seeking truth beyond common stereotypes.

This article was originally published in February 2017 in TopMob magazine.

Joanna Trollope explains she struggled to find novels that realistically portrayed women’s experiences at work. While some books existed about women in finance behaving in traditionally masculine ways – often focusing on drinking and relationships – she couldn’t find any that explored how women actually work, believing their approach differs significantly from men’s.

The 73-year-old author decided to portray a more realistic picture of middle age in her latest novel, City of Friends. The book centers around four friends, all 47 years old, who met while studying economics at university and have since become successful in the financial world. She intentionally created a diverse group of characters, including a couple without children, a couple with children, a gay couple, and a single mother, to reflect a wide range of life experiences.

City of Friends was Anthony Trollope’s twentieth novel. Its author, a graduate of Oxford and the daughter of a rector, was also a relative of Trollope himself. She became known as the ‘queen of the Aga saga’ due to the success of her early novels – A Village Affair, The Choir, and The Rector’s Wife – all of which were adapted for television and focused on comfortable, domestic life in the English countryside.

However, Trollope is actually quite radical in his writing. As Fay Weldon observed, he had a knack for identifying the key issues of his era. His novels fearlessly explored topics like adoption, infidelity, inheritance disputes, and the lasting effects of trauma.

Want to see this content?

We can’t display this content because of a security measure called reCAPTCHA. If you’re signed in to Contentpass, please sign out to see it.

While researching her 2014 book, Balancing Act, which focused on family businesses, she toured the Emma Bridgewater pottery factory in Stoke-on-Trent. This experience sparked her interest in how commonly women now assume work is a natural part of their lives.

I was born in late 1943, and growing up, very few women had careers. I was determined to work, and I did. My daughters, who are now in their 40s, all have jobs, just like the characters in ‘City of Friends’. And now, my 18-year-old granddaughter’s generation sees working as the natural thing to do.

City of Friends can be seen as a follow-up to Trollope’s earlier novel, Balancing Act. While researching this new book, Trollope spoke with women working in finance and spent time living in London’s Canary Wharf, which he found both interesting and strangely detached from reality.

She was really impressed with the women she met, and thought they were the type who could have been successful politicians if the atmosphere in Parliament wasn’t so dominated by childish and disrespectful behavior.

She explains that we don’t know much about these women because they intentionally keep a low profile. They’re highly influential but prefer to remain private and want to maintain that privacy.

The novel also explores the personal costs for ambitious women who prioritize their careers. Trollope implies that women, unlike men, often struggle to separate their work and personal lives. Furthermore, society still feels uneasy about women dedicating themselves to work, viewing it as disruptive and even threatening. Essentially, when women focus on their careers, it challenges traditional expectations and creates discomfort.

Before starting her writing career in 1980, Joanna Trollope worked at the Foreign Office and as a teacher. She has two daughters from her first marriage to a banker. Her second marriage was to television writer Ian Curteis, giving her two stepchildren. Now divorced and a grandmother of nine, she lives in Kensington. The cover of her novel, City of Friends, shows the four different homes of the main female characters, ranging from modest apartments in the East End to elegant townhouses in Islington.

It’s crucial to get these details correct. Men tend to categorize each other based on their professions, essentially ranking them. Women, on the other hand, are more interested in details about a person’s living situation – where they live, if they live alone, or if they have pets.

Every woman deserves a fulfilling personal life, in whatever way that looks for her. She believes a strong, independent life outside of work or other commitments is essential – a foundation that empowers women to tackle any challenge.

I just find Trollope such fascinating company. She’ll be discussing Sarah Waters one minute – how Waters’ novel, The Night Watch, set in the 1940s, actually gave her the idea for a lesbian relationship in City of Friends. She explained she felt we’ve seen a lot of stories about gay betrayal, but not nearly enough about the same thing happening within lesbian relationships. Then, completely switching gears, she’ll be admiring Zoella Sugg, the lifestyle blogger! She was so impressed that Zoella, working from her bedroom in Essex with all her G-plan furniture, managed to pull off such a clever and successful business move with her first novel, even though it turned out a ghostwriter helped her write it. It’s just amazing how she sees connections everywhere.

Zoella’s popularity stems from the fact that she feels like an older sister figure to many young girls. As one person explained, it’s a similar feeling to being obsessed with an older role model – like a school tennis captain – but now that admiration is often directed towards celebrities like Kim Kardashian or online personalities like Zoella.

She’s concerned that teenagers prefer texting to having real conversations. She believes this generation, often called the ‘Snowflake’ generation because of their sensitivity, is responding to the intense pressures of social media. It’s not that they’re weak, she argues, but that they’ve grown up facing a constant stream of information, criticism, and online bullying. As a result, they’ve withdrawn into a safer space – like hiding behind a shield – where they feel protected from negativity.

Unlike many authors, Trollope sees progress as a positive force. While researching her novel City of Friends, she was impressed by the number of experts – academics and business psychologists – focused on improving life, boosting productivity, and creating meaningful connections. She was heartened to find so many people genuinely dedicated to helping others, going beyond superficial trends like Instagram posts.

Authors

Liz Hoggard

Read More

2025-12-12 17:08