‘Queen of the Bonkbuster’ Shirley Conran dies at 91
BEST-SELLING author Shirley Conran, who was known as “Queen of the Bonkbuster”, has died aged 91.
Her top-selling books included Lace and Superwoman.
Her death was confirmed by her fashion designer son Jasper Conran yesterday.
Writing on Instagram, he said: “Shirl girl has flown away, a lark ascending.
Messages
“Thank you to all the wonderful doctors and nurses and thank you to all of you kind, dear people who sent her so many beautiful messages that meant so much to her.”
The London-born writer was educated at a finishing school in Switzerland, where she was interested in the worlds of art and fashion.
She originally trained as a sculptor and painter and worked in textile design for a number of years. Shirley joined the Daily Mail in 1968 before later becoming women’s editor.
She went on to launch Femail, the newspaper’s first dedicated women’s section, and also worked as the women’s editor of the Observer, and as a columnist for Vanity Fair.
Shirley became an author after being diagnosed with the chronic fatigue syndrome ME in her late 30s. The condition causes extreme tiredness and meant she was unable to work full-time.
She was renowned for telling women in her first best-seller, Superwoman in 1983 that “life is too short to stuff a mushroom”.
The author went on to write Forever Superwoman, about having children, and Futures, a guide to the menopause.
But she shelved her plan to write a sex guide for girls and wrote a novel instead. The blockbuster Lace was about four friends who meet a film star in a Manhattan hotel.
She described it as a “really intensely researched sexual information dressed up as a novel”.
She wrote several more novels, including Savages, The Revenge and Tiger Eyes.
Shirley was also a campaigner, and established a series of charities including Mothers In Management in 1998, which aims to improve conditions and flexibility for working mothers.
Recognised
In 2001, she went on to found the Work-Life Balance Trust, a charity which lobbied for flexible hours for workers.
In 2018, she established the Maths Anxiety Trust, which aims to help people who suffer fear when dealing with arithmetic.
She was recognised with an OBE for services to equal opportunities in 2004.