Mount by Jilly Cooper - SPOILERS!

[MrsCampbellBlack]

So do not read this thread if you have not read the whole book.

Oh yes, I think Winona would have been great for Caitlin (in the early 90s).

Favourite animal: Tero (sob). Or maybe Wayne. Or Little Chef. I actively dislike bloody Trevor.

Oh, Trevor! And George Hungerford bought a whole beach just for Flora!

I feel I need a vast gin (which I will wince at the strength of). I've not washed my hair today and am red in the face.

But I'll just use the flaky mascara, wipe my hand on the crumbly blusher at the bottom of my bag, use an old receipt to whack it on my face and I'll be fucking gorgeous

I'm getting a bit cold so I think I'll put on a jersey. A have a vast gin.

It's amazing how much the characters smoke and yet apart from poor Billy the only one to get cancer is Taggie who is far too much of an angel to contemplate such a filthy habit.

A jersey that is covered it cat hair as it was drying on the Aga.

do none of these people have microwaves?!!!

Two things that bothered me:

Why is Cosmo living at Valhalla? Wouldn't it have gone to Helen as his widow? Or Wolfie as the eldest son? Cosmo was an illegitimate son so at the very least surely it would have gone to one of the seven legitimate children?!

And why is Flora introduced as Flora Maguire? She was Flora Seymour before she got married and became Flora Hungerford (if she changed her name on marriage). She was never Maguire! However, I noticed there was no mention of Guy - so maybe Georgie divorced Guy and Flora changed her name in protest at his behaviour - but if she was going to do that surely she would just change it to Hungerford?!

Yes, I know I am massively overthinking this!

I have also tried doing a timeline but you just can't as it's so inconsistent. Riders and Rivals are OK (apart from the olympics thing) but the Polo timelines are about 2 years out from Riders/Rivals. Rupert is born in 1949 if you go with Riders, but 1947 if you go with Polo, and 1955 if you go with Mount! Also within Mount, Cosmo and Dora reduce in age - the character list says that Dora is 18 at the start. It also states that she is 3 years younger than Cosmo, making him 21 when the book starts. However after 3/4 years have passed, he is 23! It's annoying enough that she can't keep the timeline consistent between books, but within the same book is just careless!

It specifically states at the start of Mount that Dora is 18, which means so is Bianca - so she is 18 and living in Australia with her boyfriend?

Isn't that the problem with gin and parties, they can make it tricky sticking to boring details like ages

Favourite animal - Gertrude. Probably because she always reminded me of my own dog.

The timelines and ages drive me bonkers, it's not THAT difficult to keep a note of characters' ages ffs.

Indeed - and no-one is suggesting Jilly herself should keep track but either her publisher's 'people' or her own assistant should do it.

How old must the 'smooth, still handsom' James Bendon be? I always assumed he was older than Helen and Rupert (what with them being only early twenties in riders and he was a qualified privately practicing doctor). But yet he is still handsom and still practicing in Mount. If Rupert is 57 (although timelines suggest 67) then James Benson must be mid seventies surely?!

Ex-mil was at Godolphin with Jilly but did not have one amusing story to tell.

I was very disappointed but that's not why she's an Ex-mil.

I thought that too, Ploppy. My first instinct was 'she's still wheeling him out?'

He must be prehistoric by now, if Rupert was 27 when Marcus was born in '76, and James Benson was a consultant then, he had to have been at least 35 realistically. So he would have been born in 1941, and he's 75+ now.

Flora marries George at the end of Score and "Flora Hungerford" comes up in the credits of Don Carlos.

Yy to Bianca aged 18 living in Australia with her boyfriend! Not to mention Aysha living with Xav somewhere abroad (was it Colombia?) unmarried despite her father's strictness.

Rannaldini's final will disinherited both Helen and Wolfie, but it was apparently unsigned and there was much talk of contesting it. Maybe Wolfie decided not to, because he didn't want to take anything from his father, and perhaps as 4th wife with no mutual kids Helen couldn't. But it should have gone to Cecilia - in fact, shouldn't Valhalla have gone to Natasha? Definitely not Little Cosmo, anyway!

She actually has ISA say that Jake beat Rupert in LA in the Seventies, so even more inaccurate.

Just reached buttercunt. Bleurgh.

Buttercunt really is the pits. Actually feel rather embarrassed for Jilly.

So, Stratters (aka Sarah Stratton?) - what did he say to you in bed around the time of the infamous naked tennis match?

Maybe Ferdie flogged Valhalla to Little Cosmo and made a fortune.

Just finished it so I can pop on here and chuck my tuppence in.
I was infuriated by the ' as was said earlier' comments she made. Readers can generally follow a plot.
I rushed past the romps as they were superfluous to the 'plot' and through the racing as I found I really didn't care if the horse won or not.
What happened to Old Eddie? He was central to story then just shuffled off.
Gav wasn't developed as a character but I did think the Eddie and Lark story was ok.
Not as bad as Wicked but definitely not a Rivals.
Is Etta based on Jilly?

Re Cosmo and inheriting, surely that's the point about baddies, they have to be temporarily on top by skulduggery to be toppled

You think I'm going to fall for that, you DM plant You're?

What's said between the sheets, stays between the sheets.

Chessie - I wondered that too. Rannaldini left most of his estate to his second wife and her children - Cosmo and Hermione both got £4 million and Helen nothing. Maybe Cosmo bought the others out? Or maybe Jilly just forgot the details of the will (which I don't want to believe).

Oops sorry - saw cheddar got there first.

You're is clearly a plant from The Scorpion a la Beattie Johnson