Jilly Cooper Books In Order

Publication Order of Rutshire Chronicles Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Jilly Cooper is a famous erotic and romance English author who was born on 21st February 1937. She became a journalist where she wrote non-fictional articles before writing some of the romance novels. Cooper is well-known for her Rutshire Chronicles series which was first published in 1985.

Early Life

Jilly was born in Essex, England to Mary Elaine and Brigadier W.B Sallitt. Surrey and IIkley were the towns she grew up in. Jilly attended Moorfield School and Godolphin School.

Adult Life

She had worked in several secretarial jobs before staring her long career in journalism in London. In the year 1957, she became a junior reporter for the Middlesex Independent. She was later married to her childhood sweetheart, Leo Cooper.

Once she met The Sunday Times magazine editor at a dinner party, she knew that things will be better for her. The editor loved her tales of married life and asked her to write a piece which was succeeded by similar articles about housework, marriage and sex.

In 1975, she published her first romantic fiction novel, ‘Emily’ followed by ‘Bella’ and ‘Harriet’ in 1976. In 1985, she wrote ‘Riders’ which has proved to be the best selling among her novels. Currently, Jilly is 78 years old and an internationally recognized author.

Chronicles Series

As stated earlier, this series was the most successful work of Jilly Cooper. It consists of the following nine books:

Riders

This was the first book in the Chronicles series. It revolves around a realm in which brave horses are almost human and humans behave like animals. The hero, Jake Lovell, is gifted with magical hands which put a price tag on the most difficult woman or horse. He is motivated by his loathing of the beautiful bounder and darling of the show ring, Rupert Campbell-Black.

The two men fought and fornicated their way around major cities of Europe side by side. Unfortunately, the feud between them erupts and results in unimaginable consequences during the Los Angeles Olympics.

Rivals

This is second book in the series and was published in 1988. It revolves around the world of television. It focuses on Declan O’Hara who is a mega-star with a radiant feckless wife, two teenage daughters and a handsome son. During this time, Rupert Campbell-Black is divorced and is now the Tory Minister for Sport.

In this book, there is more romance, betrayal, parties, adultery and sex. It also squeezes in some of the women rights at the workplace which was headed by Cameron Cook.

Polo

This book is about polo players. It brings in Argentinian romance experts who can also fly helicopters, heroines of each flavor and dark brooding men with troubled pasts. The heroine Perdita MacLeod is not very likeable as she interferes with the lives of almost all characters.

The man who made husbands jealous

Lysander Hawkley was blessed with a kind heart and stunning looks. He would always rescue a neglected wife or an abused horse. The act of rescuing neglected wives resulted in ecstatic sex which didn’t please their husbands.

Hawkley’s mid-life crisis began at 22 when his mother passed away. To add on to that, he was unemployed, alcohol followed him everywhere and debts seemed to constantly increase.

Fortunately, Ferdie, his fat friend gave him a solution – getting paid for making husbands jealous. He causes havoc in Rutshire for quite some time but the real trouble starts when he comes face to face with Rannaldini.

Appassionata

The heroine, Abigail Rosen aka Appassionata, was not only the most violinist and flamboyant in classical music but was also the sexiest. Unfortunately, she was also the loneliest. She was also very attracted to a sinfully glamorous horn player, Viking O’Neill.

Score

This was the sixth book in the series. It featured Sir Robert Rannaldini. He was very successful but a disgusting being in the world. His only ambitions were; making history in the musical industry by making a movie of Verdi’s darkest opera, Don Carlos and to seduce his 19 year old daughter Tabitha Campbell.

Violent feuds, abandoned sex, devious plotting and temperamental screaming are inevitable once Tristan, Rannaldini, the French director and volatile cast gather at Rannaldini’s abbey for filming. Even thogh everyone wanted Rannaldini dead, it was astonishing that Maestro was murdered. This didn’t stop the bizarre things from taking place.

Pandora

Raymond Kelvedon discovered the most beautiful picture, Raphael’s Pandora in Normandy Chateau in 1944. She had cast a spell not only all over his family but also artists and dealers for fifty years. Pandora witnessed Gelena, Raymond’s wife, entertaining a string of lovers and giving birth to her four children; Jupiter, Jonathan, Sienna and Alizarin.

Later, a strangers shows up at their door step and claims to be the long lost daughter of the family. This sets the three Belvedon brothers at each other’s throats. She is accompanied with her glamorous boyfriend who has an unhealthy interest in the Raphael painting.

Wicked!

An ambitious and stunningly attractive headmaster, Hengsit Brett-Taylor, comes up with a plan to share his school’s facilities with Larkminster Comprehensive aka ‘Larks’. His intentions were purely financial but they changed once he met Janna Curtis, the new head of Larks. Janna’s objective is to save the school from closure. In addition, she is pretty, young, brave and enthusiastic. She is determined to do anything to save her school from closure.

Unfortunately, both parents and staff members neglect to take a closer look at this radical move. On the other hand, students get an opportunity to create more mayhem than usual.

Jump!

This is the last book in the series. It revolves around the world of horse racing. Etta Bancroft, who is sweet, kind and beautiful, loves racing and has a huge crush on Rupert Campbell-Black. Rupert is very handsome and high-handed owner-trainer.

Once her husband dies, Etta’s children make her shift from her sweet Dorset home to a hideous bungalow in Cotswold village of Willowwood. Her life changes when she finds a mutilated filly and nurses it back to health. The filly charms everyone in the village which is later revealed to be a well-bred racehorse. In this book, you will meet gallant stable lads, obsessive trainers, rich owners and more.