Biography
Queen of the bonkbuster, Jully Cooper has sold over 10 million books in the UK alone, and has been appointed OBE, CBE and DBE for her services to literature. Born in 1937, Jill Sallitt began her career as a reporter in 1957, and over the coming years worked as an account executive, copywriter and receptionist before her big break in 1969, writing a column on everything from sex to housework. This in turn led to a series of nonfiction books that explored relationships and issues of class in contemporary society.
In 1975, she published her first work of fiction, Emily, which went on to become the first in the ‘names’ series that featured independent women falling in love. Far from the traditional romance novel, they were incredibly popular with young women and were a precursor for later novels such as Bridget Jones’ Diary.
In 1985, she published the first in the series she would become best-known for: the Rutshire novels. Featuring intricate plots, multiple characters, overlapping storylines and themes of infidelity, betrayal, domestic upheavals and money worries. Glamorous, melodramatic and raunchy, the series offered an immersive blend of escapism and insight into the private lives of the upper classes.
Witty and engaging, humorous and glamorous, romantic and racy, Jilly Cooper offers a modern take on the romance genre, with intriguing plots, beautiful settings and memorable heroines who neither want nor need to be saved by a knight in shining armour.
