By Obinna Uballa
Celebrated British novelist Jilly Cooper, famed for her witty and racy tales of high society, has died at the age of 88, her family and agent confirmed on Monday.
Media reports in the United Kingdom said Cooper passed away after suffering a fall on Sunday.
Her publicist, Felicity Blunt, paid tribute, describing the loss as deeply personal. “I have lost a friend, an ally, a confidante and a mentor. But I know she will live forever in the words she put on the page and on the screen,” she said.
Her children, Felix and Emily, said their mother’s sudden death had come as a 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,” they said.
Born Jill Sallitt on February 21, 1937, Cooper became a household name with her wildly popular Rutshire Chronicles, a series of romantic novels brimming with glamour, rivalry and erotic escapades.
Her works, often filled with humour, sex and snobbery, carried cheeky titles such as Tackle!, Mount! and Score! and went on to sell more than 11 million copies in the UK, reports said.
In 2024, her novel Rivals was adapted into a Disney+ series, introducing a new generation to her notorious character Rupert Campbell-Black, said to be loosely inspired by Andrew Parker Bowles, the former husband of Queen Camilla.
Blunt noted that Cooper’s writing, while often labelled “bonkbusters,” resonated far beyond their genre. “She wrote with acuity and insight about all things – class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility. You wouldn’t expect books in this category to have so emphatically stood the test of time,” she said.
