Jump to content

Rutshire Chronicles

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rutshire Chronicles is a series of romantic novels by Jilly Cooper. Set in the fictional county of Rutshire, characters recur across the series repeatedly, including the upper-class MP Rupert Campbell-Black. The first book in the series was published in 1985, and the most recent, as of 2025, in 2023. Three of the books from the series, Riders, Rivals and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, have been adapted for television, in 1993, 2023 an 1997 respectively.

Background

[edit]

The series is set in the fictional county of Rutshire,[1] in the Cotswolds.[2] The name of the county[note 1] links to the sexual content of the books.[3] Cooper has written over thirty other books, in addition to this series.[4] The first book in the series was published in 1985, the most recent Tackle! in 2023.[5] The series follows a cast of wealthy and largely upper-class families, and is known for its sexual plotlines and scandalous scenes.[5] Indeed the Financial Times described the series in 2024 as "legendarily filthy".[6] Cooper is meticulous about her research for of the novels. This includes travelling to Palm Beach and Argentina to research Polo.[7][8]

Cooper has acknowledged that the character of Rupert Campbell-Black was inspired by: the 11th Duke of Beaufort; Andrew Parker Bowles, the former husband of Queen Camilla;[9] and the 21st Earl of Suffolk.[10] Each of the books includes a character list prior to the main text.[11] These lists have been described by Tamara Atkin as a "gateway to Cooper's over-sexed landscape of horse-riding toffs" but having the additional function of familiarity for the reader throughout the series.[11]

Characters

[edit]
  • Rupert Campbell-Black
  • Agatha 'Taggie' Campbell-Black, née O'Hara
  • Marcus Campbell-Black
  • Tabitha Campbell-Black
  • Basil Baddingham
  • Billy Lloyd-Foxe
  • Janie Lloyd-Foxe
  • Declan O'Hara
  • Ricky France-Lynch
  • Cameron Cook
  • Lysander Hawkley
  • Flora Seymour
  • Roberto Rannaldini
  • Hermione Harefield
  • Cosmo Rannaldini
  • Anthea Belvedon
  • Dora Belvedon
  • Helen Hawkley, née McCauley (formerly Campbell-Black, Gordon, Rannaldini)
  • Etta Bancroft
  • Amber Lloyd-Foxe
  • Valent Edwards

Rutshire Chronicles books

[edit]
  1. Riders (1986)
  2. Rivals (1988; also Players in the USA[12])
  3. Polo (1991)
  4. The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous (1993)
  5. Appassionata (1996)
  6. Score! (1999)
  7. Pandora (2002)
  8. Wicked! (2006)
  9. Jump! (2010)
  10. Mount! (2016)
  11. Tackle! (2023)

Adaptations

[edit]

Several books from the series have been adapted for television, the first was Riders which was aired as a miniseries, despite being shot as a television film, in 1993.[13] Polo was due to be adapted as a TV mini series by Anglia TV in the same year.[14] In 1997, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous was adapted as a TV miniseries for ITV,[15] by Anglia Television.[16] In 2016 the production company Filmwave acquired the rights to the novel, alongside those of nine other Rutshire Chronicles.[17] The company was behind the 2024 adaptation of Rivals.[17] A second series of Rivals was commissioned in 2025.[18]

Reception

[edit]

The series has influenced the real world in several ways. For example, Polo the novel brought the sport to a wider audience and attendance at matches increased.[19] Horses feature to a greater or lesser extent in the majority of the series, most notably in Riders, Polo, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, Mount! and Jump!; this association has been linked with other novels that focus on desire, including The Nonesuch and Regency Buck.[20]

Cooper's recent works, including Jump! received a variety of responses from critics, with Olivia Laing in The Guardian praising "her near-magical ability to conjure up a world and populate it with people for whom you feel a deep affection".[21] Since the 2010s the series has been criticised for dated and problematic portrayals of race, homosexuality, gender roles and sexual consent.[22][23][24] Her works have been described as "untouched by the #MeToo movement".[25] In 2023 former British prime minister Rishi Sunak revealed that some of his favourite books were part of the series.[26]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ 'Rut' is a words used to describe animalistic sexual activity.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Where was Disney+'s Rivals filmed? And can you visit Rutshire IRL?". Cosmopolitan. 21 October 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  2. ^ Teller, Matthew (7 November 2013). The Rough Guide to The Cotswolds: Includes Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon. Rough Guides UK. ISBN 978-1-4093-5178-8.
  3. ^ Ellis, Samantha (8 January 2015). How to Be a Heroine: Or, What I've Learned from Reading Too Much. Penguin Random House. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-09-957556-6.
  4. ^ "Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles books in order: How to read Rivals inspiration | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Loved 'Rivals'? These Are The Dame Jilly Cooper Books To Read Next". ELLE. 28 October 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  6. ^ Sturges, Fiona (15 October 2024). "Rivals review — star-studded Jilly Cooper adaptation is puerile, gratuitous and an absolute riot". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  7. ^ Bell, Jane (13 May 1992). "Jilly Makes a Mint". Aberdeen Evening Express. p. 6.
  8. ^ "Judging a Book by its Bonk". Avidly. 19 February 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  9. ^ Rowan Pelling, On its 30th anniversary, why Riders is the best erotic fiction of all time Archived 14 December 2024 at the Wayback Machine dated 7 March 2015 at telegraph.co.uk, accessed 20 January 2018
  10. ^ "Cotswolds author Jilly Cooper mourns death of Earl who inspired one of her most iconic characters". Gloucestershire Live. 9 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  11. ^ a b Atkin, Tamara (2019). "Character lists". In Dennis, Duncan; Amyth, Adam (eds.). Book Parts. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-881246-3.
  12. ^ "PAPERBACKS; 'THE WHOLE BUILDING THRUMMED WITH LUST'. - Document - Gale General OneFile". go.gale.com. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  13. ^ "TELEVISION / Sex, beasts and Jilly Cooper". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2 May 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  14. ^ Devlin, Martina (25 June 1992). "Jilly takes a Praed in her work as the stars saddle up for Riders". Daily Express. p. 13.
  15. ^ "We've Got Good News And Bad News For Rivals Fans Awaiting Season 2". HuffPost UK. 21 October 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
  16. ^ "The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous". Hugh Bonneville Online. Retrieved 27 May 2025.
  17. ^ a b "ITV series for Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles". The Bookseller. Retrieved 27 May 2025.
  18. ^ Bickerstaff, Isaac (9 May 2025). "Get ready, Rutshire! A second season of Rivals is beginning filming later this month". Tatler. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  19. ^ Rasmussen, Sonja. "24 May 1996". Aberdeen Evening Express. p. 25.
  20. ^ Dyhouse, Carol (2017). Heartthrobs: A History of Women and Desire. Oxford University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-19-876583-7.
  21. ^ Laing, Olivia (11 September 2010). "Jump! by Jilly Cooper". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  22. ^ Radloff, Lili. "Book review: Mount by Jilly Cooper". Life. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  23. ^ Morey, Kelly Ana (18 November 2016). "Jilly Cooper's ninth 'bonkbuster' falls short". Stuff. Archived from the original on 15 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  24. ^ "21 things that always happen in Jilly Cooper novels". Red Online. 6 September 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  25. ^ Redmond, Moira (7 November 2023). "Jilly Cooper is the only modern icon who can get away with ignoring #MeToo". The i Paper. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  26. ^ "UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak loves a horsey "bonkbuster."". Literary Hub. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2025.


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rutshire_Chronicles&oldid=1294272431"