Jilly Cooper

Cooper started her career as a journalist, writing a long-running column for the Sunday Times Magazine which focused largely on marriage, sex and class. It gave birth to her first book, How to Stay Married, which was followed by several other works of non-fiction.

Her first fiction publications were romantic short stories, but her true commercial success began with her 1985 novel Riders, the opening part of her bestselling Rutshire Chronicles series. Exploring domestic upheavals and sexual infidelity in an opulent world of the upper middle classes and show jumping, Riders was followed by a further nine novels, including Rivals, Appassionata, Wicked! and Mount!.

Cooper was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Gloucestershire in 2009 and appointed CBE for services to literature and charity in 2018.