Rivals

Into the cut-throat world of Corinium television comes Declan O’Hara, a mega-star of great glamour and integrity with a radiant feckless wife, a handsome son and two ravishing teenage daughters. Living rather too closely across the valley is Rupert Campbell-Black, divorced and as dissolute as ever, and now the Tory Minister for Sport. Declan needs only a few days at Corinium to realise that the Managing Director, Lord Baddingham, is a crook who has recruited him merely to help retain the franchise for Corinium.

Baddingham has also enticed Cameron Cook, a gorgeous but domineering woman executive, to produce Declan’s programme. Declan and Cameron detest each other, provoking a storm of controversy into which Rupert plunges with his usual abandon. As a rival group emerges to pitch for the franchise, reputations ripen and decline, true love blossoms and burns, marriages are made and shattered, and sex raises its (delicious) head at almost every throw as, in bed and boardroom, the race is on to capture the Cotswold Crown.

‘Jilly Cooper is the very best… elegant, glamorous, wonderful fun’ – Daily Mail

‘I couldn’t put it down’ – Sunday Express

‘A combination of drama, sex and good social comedy… unputdownable’ – The Sunday Times

‘The usual wonderful Jilly mayhem but this novel has the added madness of the world of television and actors. Also the novel in which Rupert redeems himself by falling for Taggie.’
– Judith Welsh

‘Rivals is the follow up to Riders and deserves all the praise given to its predecessor. The insight into the workings of television and the franchise system is fascinating but the best thing about Rivals, as with Riders, is the brilliantly drawn cast of characters and the way that the author so successfully immerses you in their world. Another unputdownable classic.’
– Penny Rayner

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