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.
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.
5. Mount!
The top five highest-rated Jully Cooper novels is completed by Mount - the tenth in the Rutshire Chronicles. The 2016 book scores an average rating of 3.95 from 3,491 reviews. "upert is consumed by one obsession: that Love Rat, his adored grey horse, be proclaimed champion stallion. He longs to trounce Roberto's Revenge, the stallion owned by his detested rival Cosmo Rannaldini, which means abandoning his racing empire at Penscombe and his darling wife Taggie, and chasing winners in the richest races worldwide, from Dubai to Los Angeles to Melbourne. Luckily, the fort at home is held by Rupert's assistant Gav, a genius with horses, fancied by every stable lass, but damaged by alcoholism and a vile wife. When Gala, a grieving but ravishing Zimbabwean widow moves to Penscombe as carer for Rupert's wayward father, it is not just Gav who is attracted to her: a returning Rupert finds himself dangerously tempted. Gala adores horses, and when she switches to working in the yard, her carer's job is taken by a devastatingly handsome South African man who claims to be gay but seems far keener on caring for the angelic Taggie. And as increasingly sinister acts of sabotage strike at Penscombe, the game of musical loose boxes gathers apace..." | Contributed
6. Score!
Next up is the sixth Rutshire Chronicle - Score! Published in 1989, it has an average rating of 3.92 from 2,620 reviews. "Sir Robert Rannaldini, the most successful but detested conductor in the world, had two ambitions: to seduce his ravishing 19-year-old stepdaughter, Tabitha Campbell-Black, and to put his mark on musical history by making the definitive film of Verdi's darkest opera, Don Carlos. As Rannaldini, Tristan, his charismatic French director, a volatile cast and bolshy French crew gather at Rannaldini's haunted abbey for filming, it is inevitable that violent feuds, abandoned bonking, temperamental screaming and devious plotting will ensue. But although everyone wished Rannaldini dead, no one actually thought the Maestro would be murdered. Or that after the dreadful deed some very bizarre things would continue to occur." | Contributed
7. Pandora
The seventh in the Rutshire Chronicles series also comes seventh in our list. 2002's Pandora has an average rating of 3.91 from 2,367 reviews. "Discovered by a dashing young lieutenant, Raymond Kelvedon in a Normandy Chateau in 1944, she had cast her spell over his family - all artists and dealers - for fifty years. Hanging in a turret of their lovely Cotswold house, Pandora witnessed Raymond's tempestuous wife Galena both entertaining a string of lovers, and giving birth to her four children: Jupiter, Alizarin, Jonathan and superbrat Sienna. Then an exquisite stranger rolls up, claiming to be a long-lost daughter of the family, setting the three Belvedon brothers at each other's throats. Accompanying her is her fatally glamorous boyfriend, whose very different agenda includes an unhealthy interest in the Raphael. When the painting is stolen during a fireworks party, the police are called and a global search ensues to discover once and for all who stole the masterpiece and who it actually belongs to. Will passionate love triumph, and will Pandora be restored to her rightful home?" | Contributed
8. Appassionata
Rutshire Chronicle number five was published in 1996. Appassionata has an average rating of 3.89 from 2,669 reviews. "bigail Rosen, nicknamed Appassionata, was the sexiest, most flamboyant violinist in classical music, but she was also the loneliest and the most exploited girl in the world. When a dramatic suicide attempt destroyed her violin career, she set her sights on the male-dominated heights of the conductor's rostrum. Given the chance to take over the Rutminster Symphony Orchestra, Abby is ecstatic, not realising the RSO is in hock up to its neck and is composed of the wildest bunch of musicians ever to blow a horn or caress a fiddle. Abby finds it increasingly difficult to control her undisciplined rabble and pretend she is not madly attracted to the fatally glamorous horn player, Viking O'Neill, who claims droit de seigneur over every pretty woman joining the orchestra. And then Rannaldini, arch-fiend and international maestro, rolls up with Machiavellian plans of his own to sabotage the RSO." | Contributed