Jilly Cooper has a new book :)

[Alouiseg]

It will be published in September and it's called "Jump"

I cannot wait

Alouiseq - that's exactly what it's like! Needs to be big enough for Rupert to ride the horse into the hall at the party where Helen cries over her ruined eau-de-nil carpet...

I always wanted to punch Helen, complete wet blanket.

I think she was described as Dresden China, beautiful but fragile. I always thought of her as a bit of a Princess Diana character, the real heroines were more gutsy.

< no offence to Dianaphiles>

I just started The Common Years - I've never read it before, as I'm not a huge fan of Jilly's non-fiction.

But there's a scene where Felix has had meningitis and Jilly has a conversation with Emily that's exactly like the conversation in Harriet when Jonah has meningitis. Does anyone know the story behind this - did it happen in real life and then she put it in a book, or did she take something from an earlier book and put it in The Common Years?

It's just that she seems to be writing Riders in the early part of The Common Years, and I'd have thought Harriet was written quite a bit earlier than this.

Perhaps I care just a bit too much...

Haven't read much of her non fiction prudence as tried "How to survive christmas" and got bored of it - much prefer her outrageous novels. Agree with Alouise that house has to be Penscombe - what about this for the Priory

Yup. That's the priory, I did imagine it to be set within a dark and gloomy forest for some strange reason.

First person to find Valhalla, complete with tower wins the location scout job!

mrswill you are in good company - loads of us think she's a modern Jane Austen. GCSE english students will be studying Jilly in the year 2130!

I liked the Common Years. You can see where she gets a lot of her characterisation for her novels from the people she encounters in real life.

I liked the common years too.

Have just finished Octavia and dear God, the ending¬

'...But i warn you, baby, even if we have to fight like cats, i'm going to wear the trousers. you're going to do what i tell you, and if you start upstaging me, i'll put you down. the boys from the valley are like that. we keep our women in the packground and we beat them if they give us any trouble, but we know how to love them '.

'suddently i felt my knees giving way with lust'....

sighs when men were men...........

Oh yes, that ending to Octavia is a little dodgy. I usually read that bit pretty quickly.

dearprudence - I think the Harriet/Imogen/Prudence lot were short stories that she then rewrote later on to expand into (short) novel length. Maybe she added the meningitis conversation then to expand the plot?

I can't really read Octavia - it and Bella are my least favourite. But whoever mentioned Kate's Wedding in Lisa and Co - I loved that one!

Beyond excited. Matt from Imogen! Oh yes. Closes eyes and dreams of being taken to South of France for a make-over...

Just giving this a wee bump as I've noticed a synopsis on Amazon

"Rupert s delectable god-daughter Amber" that would be Amber Lloyd-Foxe -no?

Come back you lot and join me in getting excited

Right this is my last bump in the vein hope of some Cooper-esque chat and then I'll give up

Oh I can't wait for this to come out. What sort of genius calls a horse Mrs Wilkinson?

Presumably Amber is indeed Amber Lloyd-Fox, daughter of the fabulous Janey.

Am so excited about this cant wait!!

OOh I love Janey Lloyd Foxe.

I bet Amber is a cracking character.

Yay I'm not alone now where is Alouiseg; glitterkitty; mayornaze et al

How Jilly Cooper changed my life, number 364
I joined a very trendy company and felt completely out of my depth. A couple of weeks after I joined some of the arty/Eng Lit types were doing a crossword and couldn't get the name of a poet from a couple of lines of poetry. I recognized it immediately and piped up with "it's Housman, the poem is 'A Shropshire Lad'". What I didn't say was that it was a line by Patrick in Rivals. Ice broken, and I realized that it's not how you know something, it's what you know that counts.

I've re-started the series and feel desolate that I'm already up to The Man Who. All of the best ones are gone.

DC1 is due on Thursday. If it is a boy, I would love to call him Lysander, but DH says no.

I've pre-ordered my copy. Can't wait for the 16th. I will need to be surgically detached from it.

Am going on hols next week and gutted that I won't have it in time. Still, it will be all shiny waiting for me when I get home!

My copy is also pre-ordered - the children will be watching a lot of cbeebies on the 16th.

I always feel i need to be drinking lots of champagne and on a crazy diet and wearing cashmere when I read Jilly.