LONDON (AP) — British writer Joanna Trollope, whose bestselling novels charted domestic and romantic travails in well-heeled rural England, has died, her family said Friday. She was 82.
Trollope’s daughters, Antonia and Louise, said the writer died peacefully at her home in Oxfordshire, southern England, on Thursday.
Trollope wrote almost two dozen contemporary novels, including “The Rector’s Wife,” “Marrying the Mistress,” “Other People's Children” and “Next of Kin.” They were often dubbed “Aga sagas,” after the old-fashioned Aga ovens found in affluent country homes.
Trollope disliked the term, noting that her books tackled uncomfortable subjects including infidelity, marital breakdown and the challenges of parenting.
“That was a very unfortunate phrase and I think it’s done me a lot of damage," she once said. "It was so patronizing to the readers, too.”
Trollope's most recent novel, “Mum & Dad,” examined the “sandwich generation” of middle-aged people looking after both children and elderly parents.
Trollope also published 10 historical novels under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey.
Trollope, a distant relative of Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, was born in Minchinhampton in the west of England in 1943. She studied English at Oxford University, then worked in Britain's Foreign Office and as a teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1980. She became a household name after “The Rector’s Wife” was adapted for television in 1991.
Trollope's novel “Parson Harding's Daughter” won a novel of the year award from the Romantic Novelists' Association in 1980. In 2010, the association gave her a lifetime achievement award for services to romance.
In 2019, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, by Queen Elizabeth II.
Her literary agent, James Gill, called Trollope “one of our most cherished, acclaimed and widely enjoyed novelists.
“Joanna will be mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends and — of course — her readers,” Gill said.
FILE - Joanna Trollope announces the shortlist for the Orange Prize for Fiction at in London, April 17, 2012. Joanna Trollope has died, her family said Friday Dec. 12, 2025. She was 82. (Lewis Whyld/PA via AP, File)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s president on Saturday warned neighboring Afghanistan’s Taliban government that it had “ crossed a red line ” by launching drone attacks on civilian areas in Pakistan and said the administration in Kabul has brought “grave consequences upon itself.”
The statement by Asif Ali Zardari was the latest in what has become the deadliest fighting yet between the two neighbors. The cross-border clashes, which erupted late last month, have shown no signs of abating despite efforts by China and Turkey to broker a ceasefire.
Pakistan said its forces intercepted the drones launched on Friday but that falling debris injured two children in the city of Quetta and two people elsewhere in the country.
On Friday, the Afghan Taliban government accused Pakistan of conducting airstrikes in Kabul, the country's capital, and other areas in eastern Afghanistan, saying at least six civilians were killed and 15 other were injured.
Hours later, Kabul claimed its air force responded by targeting military installations near Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, and in northwestern Pakistan.
Pakistan denied targeting civilians, saying its operations are focused on Pakistani Taliban militants and their support networks. Islamabad has referred to the conflict as an "open war” — adding to concerns among the international community about regional stability as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has engulfed the Middle East and beyond.
Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that Pakistani aircraft also struck fuel depots belonging to the private airline Kam Air near the airport in the southern city of Kandahar, which he said supplies civilian and U.N. flights.
Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban government of harboring Pakistani militant groups — mainly the Pakistani Taliban — that cross the porous volatile border between the two countries to stage attacks against Pakistani forces and also of allying with its archrival, India. Kabul denies harboring militant groups.
On Friday, a roadside bomb targeting Pakistani police killed seven officers in the northwestern district of Lakki Mawat.
Zardari slammed the government in Kabul.
“While the Afghan terrorist regime seeks negotiations with our friendly countries, it crossed a red line by attempting to target our civilians," he said.
Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said Saturday on X that its defense forces along the border in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar captured a Pakistani post and killed 14 Pakistani soldiers. In Islamabad, Pakistan’s Information Ministry said the claim was baseless.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesman, Mosharraf Zaidi, said the “Afghan Taliban are spending more time weaving fantasies" than they are getting rid of "terrorist organizations enjoying Afghan Taliban regime hospitality.”
He said on X that such propaganda would not force Pakistan to end its counterterrorism operations. “Only the end of terrorism from Afghan soil to Pakistan will,” he said.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday urged for a peaceful resolution of the Afghanistan-Pakistan dispute, warning the use of force worsens tensions and threatens regional stability. His remarks were reported Saturday by China’s official Xinhua News Agency, which said Wang had spoken with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Wang said China’s special envoy is shuttling between the two countries in an effort to promote restraint and encourage a ceasefire. Muttaqi said Afghanistan seeks regional peace and does not want a military conflict, adding that dialogue remains the only solution and urging China to play a greater role.
A Qatari-mediated ceasefire in October briefly reduced tensions, but subsequent talks in Turkey failed to produce a lasting agreement.
Qahar reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated Press writer Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
Residents and Taliban police gather the remains of a projectile at the site of a strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Barackatullah Popal)
People attend the funeral prayers of police officers, killed in the roadside bomb explosion, outskirts of Lakki Marwat, a district in northwest Pakistan, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/G.A. Marwat)
Residents inspect the site of a strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Barackatullah Popal)
