Dame Jilly Cooper, the well-loved author famed for her romantic ‘bonkbusters’ with stories set in the equestrian world, has died at the age of 88.
She died on Sunday morning following a fall, said her Literary Agency, Curtis Brown. She was 88.
Jilly’s The Rutshire Chronicles series, starring the handsome showjumping hero Rupert Campbell-Black, topped the charts. The titles included Riders, Mount!, Tackle! and Jump!
The novel Riders was adapted by Happy Prince for a hugely successful TV series on Disney+, for which Jilly was an executive producer.
A pony called Rufus
Jilly began her writing career as a journalist and she published several non-fiction books, with topics including animals and marriage, before switching to fiction and becoming a household name.
When interviewed by Your Horse for an article in its April 2019 issue, Jilly said she settled on the romance genre “because I’m a romantic”.
“I love reading romance novels. I find there’s very little in books or on TV about happy marriages. There don’t seem to be as many happy endings anymore, which I think is a real shame,” she said.
The author also discussed how she coped with writer’s block: “I get it all the time. I find the only thing to do is pretend I’m writing a letter.”
Jilly’s passion for horses began when she was a child. Her first pony was called Rufus, before she moved on to a mare called Willow, with whom she won lots of rosettes at local shows.
She stopped riding aged 14 after a fall, but went on to co-own racehorses Monty’s Salvo and Island Flyer.
It was this passion, coupled with being “a great reader who particularly loved stories about horses”, that would inspire Jilly’s future career.
‘Intricate and gutsy’ plots
Jilly’s agent, Felicity Blunt, called working with the author “the privilege of my career” and described Jilly as “a woman who has defined culture, writing and conversation since she was first published over fifty years ago”.
She continued: “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. Her plots were both intricate and gutsy, spiked with sharp observations and wicked humour.
“She regularly mined her own life for inspiration and there was something Austenesque about her dissections of society, its many prejudices and norms.
“But if you tried to pay her this compliment, or any compliment, she would brush it aside. She wrote, she said, simply ‘to add to the sum of human happiness’. In this regard as a writer she was and remains unbeatable.”
Funeral plans
Curtis Brown confirmed that Jilly’s funeral will be a private family one, in line with her wishes.
There are also plans for a public service in Southwark Cathedral.
“At this very difficult time, the family ask people to respect their privacy and to give them time to grieve,” said a statement on the agency’s website.
“A public service of thanksgiving will be held in the coming months in Southwark Cathedral to provide an opportunity for everyone that knew Jilly to celebrate her extraordinary life. A separate announcement will be made in due course around those arrangements.”
Main image: Dame Jilly Cooper at a special UK screening of Rivals, September 17, 2024, in London. Image by Dave Benett/Getty Images for Disney+.
