Risqué Author Jilly Cooper Dies at 88

Jilly Cooper, the bestselling British author known for her chronicles of class and sex, including Rivals and Riders, has died unexpectedly, her agent and family said Monday. She was 88, reports the AP. The author died on Sunday after a fall, according to a statement from literary agency Curtis Brown, which represented her. "Mum was the shining light in all of our lives," her children, Felix and Emily, wrote. "Her unexpected death has come as a complete shock." Cooper garnered legions of fans with her Rutshire Chronicles, beginning with Riders in 1985, a humorous and racy series that portrayed the sex lives, scandals and excesses of the well-off, horse-riding upper and middle classes in 1980s England. The 11 books in the series sold millions of copies in the United Kingdom alone.

One of the books, Rivals, was turned into a hit Disney+ TV series last year, starring David Tennant and Alex Hassell. Queen Camilla, the wife of King Charles III, called Cooper "a legend" and recalled seeing the author recently at a book festival. "I join my husband the King in sending our thoughts and sympathies to all her family. And may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs," Camilla wrote. Cooper has said that the fictional Rupert Campbell-Black, the dashing hero at the heart of many of her stories, was partly inspired by Camilla's ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called Cooper "a literary force whose wit, warmth and wisdom shaped British culture for over half a century and brought joy to millions," according to his office.

Cooper was awarded an OBE, or Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to literature in 2004. Her many fans included former British PM Rishi Sunak, who said the books offered "escapism." Bill Scott-Kerr, her publisher, praised Cooper for her "wicked social commentary and deft, lacerating characterization." "She dissected the behavior, bad mostly, of the English upper middle classes with the sharpest of scalpels," he said. Her agent, Felicity Blunt, said Cooper "defined culture, writing and conversation since she was first published over 50 years ago." Cooper's first book, How to Stay Married, was published in 1969.