Jilly Cooper, famed ‘Rivals’ and ‘Riders’ author, dies at 88

Beloved British author Jilly Cooper, best known for her celebrated Rutshire Chronicles novel series, has passed away at the age of 88 as her agent confirmed the news on Monday, revealing that Cooper died on Sunday following a fall.

A family’s heartfelt tribute

Her children, Felix and Emily, shared an emotional statement expressing their grief, “Mum was the shining light in all of our lives. Her love for all of her family and friends knew no bounds.

They added, “her unexpected death has come as a complete shock. 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.”

A defining voice in modern British fiction

Felicity Blunt, Cooper’s longtime agent, reflected on her remarkable legacy, saying, “The privilege of my career has been working with a woman who has defined culture, writing and conversation since she was first published over fifty years ago.

She said, “Jilly will undoubtedly be best remembered for her chart-topping series The Rutshire Chronicles and its havoc-making and handsome show-jumping hero Rupert Campbell-Black.”

Blunt added that despite being labeled as “bonkbusters,” Cooper’s novels stood the test of time because she wrote “with acuity and insight about all things, class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility.”

A writer with wit and warmth

“Her plots were both intricate and gutsy,” Blunt continued, “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.”

A lasting legacy on page and screen

In recent years, Cooper served as an executive producer on The Happy Prince, a Disney+ adaptation of her novel Rivals, starring David Tennant, Alex Hassell, Bella Maclean, and others.

The series follows her iconic character Rupert Campbell-Black and his rivalry with Tony Baddingham set in the 1980s world of Rutshire.

Blunt added, “Her suggestions for story and dialogue inevitably layered and enriched scripts and her presence on set was a joy for cast and crew alike. Emotionally intelligent, fantastically generous, sharply observant and utter fun Jilly Cooper will be deeply missed by all at Curtis Brown and on the set of Rivals.”

The agent said, “I have lost a friend, an ally, a confidante and a mentor. But I know she will live forever in the words she puts on the page and on the screen.”

Additionally, A public service of thanksgiving will be held in the coming months at Southwark Cathedral in London.