Jump!

Description

Jilly Cooper returns to horses in a fabulously entertaining romp through the world of jump racing Etta Bancroft - sweet, kind, still beautiful - adores racing and harbours a crush on one of its stars, the handsome high-handed owner-trainer Rupert Campbell-Black. When her bullying husband dies, Etta's selfish, ambitious children drag her from her lovely Dorset house to live in a hideous modern bungalowin the Cotswold village of Willowwood. Etta's life is transformed when she finds a horribly mutilated filly wandering in the woods. She names her Mrs Wilkinson and nurses her back to health. The filly charms everyone in the village, and when tests reveal her to be a spectacularly well-bred racehorse a village syndicate is formed to put the filly into training. Captivating vast crowds as she progresses from point-to-point to major races, she brings fame and fortune to the syndicate, until, at last, she is entered in the greatest jump race of them all. Can Mrs Wilkinson win the Grand National? And can Etta gain her heart's desire?

Jilly Cooper is a journalist, author and media superstar. The author of many number one bestselling novels, she lives in Gloucestershire with her rescue racing greyhound, Bluebell. She has been awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of Gloucestershire and Anglia Ruskin, and won the inaugural Comedy Women in Print lifetime achievement award in 2019. She was appointed CBE in 2018 for services to literature and charity.

Jump! is the perfect read for chilly autumn nights. Hugely entertaining, touching and funny, yet again Cooper has a winner * Daily Express * This is definitely the most exciting book that landed on my doormat this year. Cooper is a major genius... the narrative zips along, pierced with her characteristically brilliant ear for dialogue and empathy for human relationships of all kinds. You won't be able to put it down -- Sara Lawrence * Daily Mail * Near-magical ability to conjure up a world and populate it with people for whom you feel a deep affection * Observer * To read one of Cooper's books is to escape into an alternative universe in which all is right with the world * Guardian * A fast-paced and enjoyable read * Sun *