‘Rivals’ creator Jilly Cooper dies, after a fall.
Iconic British author Dame Jilly Cooper has died at the age of 88, following a fall her agent announced this morning.
‘Rivals’ creator Jilly Cooper dies, after a fall.
Iconic British author Dame Jilly Cooper has died after a fall.
Her agent announced this morning that the 88 year old had passed away, in a statement which reads:
“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. 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. 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,” continued Blunt, “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.”
In another statement, her children Felix and Emily said: “Mum was the shining light in all of our lives. Her love for all of her family and friends knew no bounds. 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.”
Her longtime agent, Felicity Blunt, added:
In recent years, Cooper had enjoyed a resurgance in popularity after Disney Plus adapated her novel ‘Rivals’ into a major series. It returns for a second season next year.