Yes! I know . . who'd have guessed. . . I'm currently reading Jilly Cooper's Wicked, her latest "rollicking jaunt through the Costwolds."
A hint of what's to come is the appearance of Rupert Campbell-Black's name on one of the 11 pages of characters listed, alphabetically. Thank heavens, lest you chuck it by page 66, when the 80th character is introduced as the 14th cousin of the main character, 7 times removed. . .
You're probably wondering at my motivation for buying it, second hand, of course . . . Being an animal lover herself, Jilly kindly included a list of the four-leggeds, and their intrepid humans. That did it, I'm afraid - I couldn't wait to meet Loofah the pony, or Bogotá, Xavier Campbell-Black's - dare I say it - black Labrador.
I love Jilly's books, although this is the first one I'm reading in YEARS, not since Riders, or Polo, back in the 80s, but I remember now, that I loved the journey into quaint English country cottages, and sprawling estates, their tapestried walls and comfy, over-stuffed couches with elegant hounds, snoozing, spilling over the sides. Not to mention the horses. Glorious horses! The obsessions of pony-mad girls, the possessions of arrogant antagonists, who are always shown up by a character who gets the reader's sympathy vote.
I'll let you know if and when I ever get to the end. Who knows when that'll be? I'm only on page 230. .. and this version has a total of 846 pages - a mission to hold upright in the bath for any length of time!
Jilly Cooper, gotta love her!
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