Trade tributes to Lynda Bellingham

Lynda Bellingham’s fiction publisher Simon & Schuster has paid tribute to her as a “vibrant” woman who leaves “a truly wonderful literary legacy”.

The British actress died yesterday (19th October) aged 66, after a battle with colon cancer.

She wrote the novel Tell Me Tomorrow for Simon & Schuster which was published in February and had an upcoming novel The Boy I Love with the publisher, which is due out in hardback on 20th November.

Bellingham also released her autobiography There’s Something I’ve been Dying to Tell You with Hodder (Coronet), which was published on 9th October and Lost and Found: My Story (Ebury Press) which was out in March 2011. There's Something I've Been Dying to Tell You went in at number three on the Hardback Non-fiction chart last week, and number eight on the Official Top 50.

Suzanne Baboneau, managing director of adult publishing at Simon & Schuster and also Bellingham’s editor, said she had only received flowers from the presenter this morning.

“What unbearably sad news,” Baboneau said. “So hard to comprehend.  And what can you say when flowers arrive on your desk, as they did for me from Lynda herself this very morning? I have Lynda La Plante to thank for putting us together and I will never forget seeing them both – our two Lyndas - on stage at the Wimbledon Festival a few years back, bringing laughter to our hearts and tears to our eyes. Her novels, Tell Me Tomorrow and the forthcoming The Boy I Love, are as heartwarming and as vibrant as Lynda herself and along with her two remarkable memoirs, she leaves us a truly wonderful literary legacy.”

A statement from Hodder said Bellingham “a truly wonderful woman whose positive outlook on life - and indeed death - inspired all of us.” The publisher said: “She was brave, elegant, warm, generous and funny, and we feel privileged to have known her, and send our deepest sympathies to her wonderful family. Lynda wanted her book to help people, dedicating the final weeks of her life to writing and publicising it with poise and determination. She was proud of its success, and she had every right to be.”

Her agent Gordon Wise of Curtis Brown, added: “Even when you know something is coming, it is still such a shock. Lynda’s default setting was generosity. She never forget a birthday or a present at Christmas.”

In total, Bellingham sold 103,716 copies of her books via Nielsen BookScan. Her most recent memoir has sold 12,708 to week ending 11th October, Lost and Found sold 61,063 across three print editions and her novel Tell me Tomorrow sold 29,945 across three print editions.