Jilly Cooper has written 26 non-fiction books, 18 novels and four children’s books to date - which have sold over 11 million copies in the UK alone.
Originally working as a journalist, her column about marriage and relationships for the Sunday Times led to her first book being published - How to Stay Married - in 1969.
She’s most famous for her series or raunchy novels set in the fictional county of Rutshire, one of which, Rivals, has been made into a major eight-part series to be released on Disney+ later this year.
With so many books to choose from, it’s hard for a Jilly Cooper beginner to know where to start.
To help out, we’ve had a look at how the millions of readers of book website Goodreads have rated her books.
Here are the top 11.
1. Polo
The best-reviewed Jilly Cooper book according to Goodread users is the 1991 classic Polo. The third of the Rutshire Chronicles scored an average rating of 4.20 (out of a maximum of 5) from 4,528 reviews. "In Jilly Cooper's third Rutshire chronicle we meet Ricky France-Lynch, who is moody, macho, and magnificent. He had a large crumbling estate, a nine-goal polo handicap, and a beautiful wife who was fair game for anyone with a cheque book. He also had the adoration of fourteen-year-old Perdita MacLeod. Perdita couldn't wait to leave her dreary school and become a polo player.The polo set were ritzy, wild, and gloriously promiscuous.Perdita thought she'd get along with them very well. But before she had time to grow up, Ricky's life exploded into tragedy, and Perdita turned into a brat who loved only her horses - and Ricky France-Lynch. Ricky's obsession to win back his wife, and Perdita's to win both Ricky and a place as a top class polo player, take the reader on a wildly exciting journey - to the estancias of Argentina, to Palm Beach and Deauville, and on to the royal polo fields of England and the glamorous pitches of California where the most heroic battle of all is destined to be fought - a match that is about far more than just the winning of a huge silver cup..." | Contributed
2. Rivals
The second in the Rutshire Chronicles takes second place. First published in 1988, Rivals has an average rating of 4.18 from 5,218 reviews. "Into the cutthroat world of Corinium television comes mega-star Declan O'Hara. Declan soon realises that the Managing Director, Lord Baddingham, has recruited him merely to help retain the franchise for Corinium. Baddingham has also enticed Cameron Cook, a gorgeous, domineering woman executive, to produce Declan's programme. 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 head at almost every throw...." | Contributed
3. The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous
1993's The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous takes third place. The fourth volume in the Rutshire Chronicles has an average rating of 4.02 from 3,747 reviews. "Lysander Hawkley combined breathtaking good looks with the kindest of hearts. He couldn't pass a stray dog, an ill-treated horse or a neglected wife without rushing to the rescue. And with neglected wives the rescue invariably led to ecstatic bonking, which didn't please their erring husbands one bit. Lysander's mid-life crisis had begun at twenty-two. Reeling from the death of his beautiful mother, he was out of work, drinking too much and desperately in debt. The solution came from Ferdie, his fat, fast-operating friend: if Lysander was so good at making husbands jealous, why shouldn't he get paid for it? Let loose among the neglected wives of the ritzy county of Rutshire, Lysander causes absolute havoc. But it is only when he meets Rannaldini, Rutshire's King Rat and a temperamental, fiendishly promiscuous international conductor, that the trouble really starts. The only unglamorous woman around Rannaldini is Kitty, his plump young wife who runs his life like clockwork. Soon Lysander is convinced that Kitty must be rescued from Rannaldini at all costs, even if it means enlisting the help of the old blue-eyed havoc maker: Rupert Campbell-Black." | Contributed
4. Riders
The book that started it all comes in fourth. Riders is the first in the multi-million-selling Rutshire Chronicles. Published in 1985, it has an average rating of 3.99 from 9,294 reviews. "Set against the glorious Cotswold countryside, Riders offers an intoxicating blend of swooning romance, adventure and hilarious high jinks. Brooding hero Jake Lovell, under whose magic hands even the most difficult horse or woman is charmed, is driven by his loathing of the dashing darling of the show ring, Rupert Campbell-Black. Having pinched each other’s horses and drunk their way around the capitals of Europe, the feud between the two men finally erupts with devastating consequences at the Los Angeles Olympics..." | Contributed