The Rutshire Chronicles is a series of romantic novels by

Jilly Cooper Jilly Cooper, CBE (born 21 February 1937), is an English author. She began her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. She is most famous for wr ...

. The stories tell tales of mainly British upper-class families, as well as the show-jumping and polo crowd, in numerous different sexually charged scenarios, often laced with

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

illegitimate Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

children,

scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

, and sometimes, even death. They are linked by several recurring

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

, chiefly

Rupert Campbell-Black Rupert Edward Algernon Campbell-Black is a fictional character in the Rutshire Chronicles series of romance novels written by Jilly Cooper. He is the eighth-generation descendant of Rupert Black (who married Miss Campbell). Campbell-Black's firs ...

, and are set in the fictional English

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of Rutshire. Some of these characters, namely Campbell-Black and numerous characters associated with him, also occur in Cooper's novel ''Pandora'', although it is not part of the series. The Campbell-Blacks, Lloyd-Foxes, France-Lynches, and other families from the Rutshire Chronicles also appear in ''Wicked!'' (2006). The tales are set in chronological order; however, they are readable as stand-alone novels.

The Rutshire Chronicles

# '' Riders'' (1986) # ''

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

'' (1988; also known as ''Players'') # ''Polo'' (1991) # ''

The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous ''The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous'' (1993) is a novel written by Jilly Cooper as part of the Rutshire Chronicles, about a womanizer who gets embroiled in a scheme to punish wayward husbands. The book was first published in hardback in 1993 ...

'' (1993) # ''Appassionata'' (1996) # ''Score!'' (1999) # ''Pandora'' (2002) # ''Wicked!'' (2006) # ''Jump!'' (2010) # ''Mount!'' (2016)

Main/recurring characters

*Agatha 'Taggie' Campbell-Black, née O'Hara *Marcus and 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 *Dame Hermione Harefield *Cosmo Rannaldini *Anthea Belvedon *Dora Belvedon

References

Book review: Mount by Jilly Cooper by Lili Radloff
http://www.w24.co.za (16 September 2016.)
Jilly Cooper's ninth 'bonkbuster' falls short
http://www.stuff.co.nz (19 November 2016)
21 Things That Always Happen In Jilly Cooper Novels by Sarra Manning
http://www.redonline.co.uk (6 September 2016) Novel series Novels by Jilly Cooper {{Romance-novel-stub