Jilly Cooper has died at the age of 88, her agent has confirmed.
The author, whose 18 novels include Riders and Rivals, “defined culture, writing and conversation since she was first published over fifty years ago,” said her agent Felicity Blunt. “You wouldn’t expect books categorised as bonkbusters to have so emphatically stood the test of time, but Jilly wrote with acuity and insight about all things – class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility.”
Cooper died Sunday morning after a fall. “Her unexpected death has come as a complete shock”, said her children Felix and Emily. “We are so proud of everything she achieved in her life and can’t begin to imagine life without her infectious smile and laughter all around us.”
Cooper is best known for the Rutshire Chronicles, which follow the scandals of the upper classes in the fictional Cotswolds county of Rutshire. The second novel in the series, Rivals, was adapted for Disney+ and released last year.
While her novels were often described as “bonkbusters”, to her they were “a bit of everything”, she told the Guardian in 2016. “But if they want to call it bonkbuster they can – except it ought to be called ‘shagbuster’ now, bonk is out of date.”
Cooper was born in Hornchurch, Essex, in 1937, and attended Godolphin School in Salisbury, Wiltshire. She began her writing career in journalism as a cub reporter on the Middlesex Independent in 1956, before moving into PR.
In 1961, she married publisher Leo Cooper, who had proposed on their second date. “After an ectopic pregnancy, it became clear I was going to be unable to have babies myself,” Cooper told the Guardian in 2017. “I was in a state of shock. I felt I’d let Leo down. But we were encouraged to adopt. I was 31 when we adopted Felix, and Emily came into our lives three years later.”
In the late 60s, she began writing columns for The Sunday Times, before moving to the Mail on Sunday in 1982. Her first book, the nonfiction title How to Stay Married, was published in 1969.
Cooper’s debut novel, Emily, was published in 1975, the first of a series of romances based on magazine stories she had published. Bella, Imogen, Prudence, Harriet and Octavia would follow, plus a collection of short stories, Lisa & Co, in 1981.
The first of 11 instalments of the Rutshire Chronicles, Riders, was published in 1985, followed by Rivals in 1988. Riders and a later book in the series, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, were adapted for television in the 90s.
More to follow