Joanna Trollope: ‘I’m a big fan of assisted suicide – it’s not staying alive, it’s having quality of life’

The author, once wrongly dubbed the Queen of the Aga saga, is still going strong with her 22nd contemporary novel ‘Mum & Dad’, out this week. She talks to Charlotte Cripps

Joanna Trollope, who has sold more that 300 million books, wants them to be remembered as guidebooks for living (Barker Evans)

When other writers say, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to get to my desk,’ I think, ‘What is the matter with you?’” says Joanna Trollope in a cut-glass accent. She may have sold more than 3 million books, but writing is still a painful process.

“You have got nothing,” she continues. “No paints or a piano to help your creativity; just you and the inside of your own head. I used to write off the top of a full tank. I was longing to write – I was longing to communicate and say to people, ‘You aren’t alone if you feel betrayed or jealous, or when you’ve been dumped for the first time.’ And now, I suppose, I’m very much older. Obviously, there is still masses of fuel there to go, but it’s not quite the eagerness I felt 50 years ago. I have to make myself do it.”

Sitting perfectly poised at a table in the Royal Court cafe, and looking so youthful for a 76-year-old that you can only hope she’s had work, Trollope is here to promote her 22nd contemporary novel, Mum & Dad. It was a short walk here from her home in Chelsea, and she’s easy to spot from a mile off: stick-thin, with high, pinched cheekbones and immaculately coiffured hair. She gets recognised quite a bit – especially around here, “in SW10, 3 and 7”, she says, the postcodes rolling off her tongue. “But you know, I’m thinking of loo paper and washing powder in places like Tesco, and so I am always startled when people come up to me and say, ‘I love your books’. I think it’s very touching.”