Jilly Cooper has a new book :)

[Alouiseg]

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

I cannot wait

I just want to say that I love Dino Ferranti the most and am staking my claim to him now.
So there.
Have just got in from work and this thread has made my night.

I also always wanted to be Bella and find true love with Lazlo Henriques....swoon.

I always fancied Matt O'Connor - Imogen was probably my favourite of the early books, though I liked Prudence as well because of all the lovely weather descriptions.

Yes I'm starting with Riders. Just finished chapter one. Blody hayfever's really playing me up tonight so I can only read slowly in between rubbing eyes and catching nose drips. (sorry TMI)

Can you all honestly remember all these leading men's names or have you had to refresh your memories quickly with google before posting?

Solid Gold - It was a tough decision for me choosing between Cory and Matt - 'Imogen' does have some very funny bits particularly about Cable! When is Jilly Cooper's birthday? - shall we all send cards c/o her publisher?
There is obviously a huge Mumsnet fan club!

Ace I think - although dodgy moustache which I have to gloss over when I read it.

God I love them. I can pick up any one of the romances and open at any point to read because I basically know them off by heart

Not only can I remember most of the leading mens names, I can quote too much of most of the books.

I love a new book and waiting to see how long before she uses one of her stock phrases - "joyous as otters" is one!

Am embarrassed now!

There're actually snippits of other writers in some of the early romances - just a paragraph or two: Nancy Mitford, Rosamund Lehmann and Rose Macauley are the ones I've spotted

...basically because as I've read each Jilly Cooper book a zillion times they jumped off the page at me when I read Love In a Cold Climate (or might be The Pursuit of Love), Invitation to the Waltz and The World My Wilderness.

The bit where Harriet stops her bike to watch the snow is from Invitation to the Waltz and the bit where Noel says "why do my children eat like they're gardening?" is from The World My Wilderness".

I spend A Lot Of Time in my bedroom reading as a teen..

Fellatio I think the leading men probably made such a deep imprint on my teenage brain that they have stayed there forever - well that and the fact that I have re-read the books so many times.

FnD I know what you mean about her stock phrases - women referred to as an "old boot"; anyone over 10 stone is considered overweight - Riders "Tory heaving her 11 stone bulk around the cottage" - only ugly women breast feed as an excuse to "whip out a great grey tit at any opportunity" misquoting obviously - she's horribly un PC - still love it though

Lima - you have just reminded me of the hideous Hilary in Riders - who nowadays would probaly post on here

I love how she always has a bit where the heroine (usually) is having a conversation with someone at a party, mishears and says "marvellous", for the other person to say "what? I said she had died"....

Porridge, I am too old, fat and disorganised to be Cameron. But I'm taking it as a compliment

Fellatio, you'll be hooked and your children are likely to remain unfed

I don't believe that for a moment Alouise
Have been larfing at everyone's recollections and am off to re-read Polo. Actually Richard Armitage could be Bas Baddingham.

Fellatio will resurface at the end of Riders, I think. Hopefully children will not have starved.

I have actual feelings of physical excitement reading this thread!

Weirdly, I just finished reading Lisa and Co for the gufufillionth time. There is a story which is very similar to Octavia - 'Kate's Wedding'.

If I had to pick one of the men to marry, it would be Cory Erskine, but I love so many of them.

I actually loved The Man Who and Score, but I think she lost her way with the other music/art books, and Wicked was just shit.

Rivals is the best book I have ever read, and I don't care who knows it! Can't wait for Jump.

Blimey just stumbled on this thread after accidentally arranging threads in alphabetical order ! Another in the closet fan here - am amazed and impressed by who has posted. Put me down as another huge fan!

I've reverted to my usual name in honour of this thread, after a few weeks spent as ashcloud.

This is interesting...Jilly's Top 10 Romantic Novels
link
I have been working my way through the list...'The Tortoise and the Hare' is a wonderful book, and after 'Middlemarch' I have several others in the 'to read' pile...all bought on Amazon Marketplace!

ashcloud - 'Kate's wedding' is my favorite in Lisa & Co - totally dippable into for ashot of romance.

I'm with SolidGold - I think it's Matt for me, although I agree that Cory is a close runner-up.

Oh, what a fantastic thread to stumble on - to think I might have missed it!

Rivals is my favourite of all, love love love it. Love Declan (even if he is a cliched broody Irishman) and Maud, love mad Cameron who Jilly actually managed to make me feel sorry for, love the young O'Haras, love the parties - descriptions of Taggie's food always made me slaver - and boozing and general mad shagging.

Wasn't RCB partly based on Anthony Andrews, as well? Love the bit in Riders where he first meets Helen and tells her hunt-saboteur friend to 'go away - you're so ugly you're frightening my horse' or similar.

Favourite early ones are Imogen and Prudence. Actually went to Pendle Hill years after reading it, and was the only one in the car who had the faintest idea what it meant in Jilly terms.

I love Jilly. (Ok, someone shut me up now.)

Am I the only one who is deeply gratified that Dittany loves Jilly as well?!

I don't have to google anything. All details re Jilly novels are deeply ingrained in my memory - I even note when there are typos and mistakes (in Riders there is a character called Grania Pringle, in a later book she is referred to as Gloria, how shocking that I can't remember what I have in the fridge to cook for dinner but I have this useless info in my head).

I often have fantasies that I will bump into Jilly C in Cavendish House in Cheltenham and she will offer me a job as her PA/best mate/honorary daughter.

What a twat I am.

Someone up thread praises her lyrical countryside descriptions and the fact that she has deeply unpleasant characters which she makes you love - I agree SO much with that. Her countryside descriptions are really evocative, and I also think it is a kind of genius that she can create a rotten character who then somehoe becomes the hero - look at RCB in Riders, he is an utter areshole however by the end he is transformed into a hero. And his redemption is complete in Rivals when he meets Taggie.

If I seem to be taking this FAR too seriously, I actually did a dissertation on Riders, Rivals and Polo for English lit GCSE (the head of english was horrified, everyone else was doing jane Austen etc, but my englosh teacher stood up for me). Turned out that my coursework was the only one in the UK which was given 100% full marks. So cheers, Jilly, for my A* in GCSE!

Well spotted GetOrf I missed Dittany's posting - it's like getting a big stamp of approval.

Off to find a JC novel to sit in the sun with instead of doing housework

GetOrf - you may be able to help me with this one with your encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Jilly!

I no longer have my copies of Rivals (one to hunt out at the charity shop!) but I'm sure in Rivals the character was Bas Bullingham, and by Polo he had become Bas Baddingham. Am I dreaming or was this the case?

Always Baddingham, I think. Tall, naughty, bar-owning brother of the evil Tony, Uncle to the fabulous Taggie, Patrick and Caitlin.

The Christmas and Winter scenes in Rivals were so good - I almost feel like I was at Patrick's 21st...

HALF-BROTHER, HALF-BROTHER - illegitimate son of a South American polo player, non?

Ooh, now when I first read Rivals it was in early 90s, and was paperback, and it was always Tony and Bas Baddingham.

But, for some reason to do with my Jilly obsession, I found a first edition of Rivals in Ilfracombe libaray, a hardback, and it had them as Tony and Bas Bullingham, like you say. So it could well be that JC was made to chamge the characters names for some reason in a subsequent edition. Perhaps there was a real like Bas Bullingham who didn't like the fiction version!

Uncle to the Hon Archie, and two other children of Monica and Tony who were unnamed.

Was not uncle to Taggie, Caitlin and Patrick, who were declan O'Hara's kids (Caitlin did go out with Archie, so if they married would have been uncle by marriage).

GETORFMOILAND DO SOME WORK AND STOP LIVING IN JILLY COOPER LAND