I had never read a Jilly Cooper novel nor seen any sort of dramatisation. It simply didn’t sound my sort of thing although I was aware of her “thoroughly good egg” status and admired her stoical work ethic. Then, when she died last month, I realised from the warm obituaries just how dearly loved and respected she was. So I decided it was time to throw my JC virginity (a fitting metaphor) to the winds and give her fiction a whirl. At random I picked Rivals which is definitely not to be confused with Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s similarly named 1775 play.
The titular rivals are two independent TV companies bidding for a franchise and there’s a complex network of upper crust characters who all know and fraternise (and the rest) with each other even when they’re on opposite sides in a vicious civil war.
Corinium is led by Tony Baddingham who is … well the clue is in the name. Cf characters such as Trollope’s Doctor Filgrave or Sheridan’s Lydia Languish. Rupert Campbell-Black MP and cronies then set up Venturer to challenge Baddingham and co – all complete with dirty deals, spying, double agents with energetic bed hopping thrown in. In the midst of all this is media super star Declan O’Hara who is (more or less) faithful to his flighty actress wife and has something called integrity which rubs most of the people he works with up the wrong way.
Of course there’s a lot of sex. Cooper’s characters are nearly all randy most of the time and, after all, the term “bonkbuster” was effectively coined for her, Or maybe. an accomplished journalist and columnist, she invented it herself? But the sex is never revoltingly graphic and often very funny. I will forgive a writer anything if she can come up with: “As he slid inside her, she felt all the joy of a canal lock suddenly finding it can accommodate the QE2”.
I enjoyed the shameless word play too. Going into a situation with your flies open, declaring that rats should desert a rising shit and the threat to tear Corinium limb from limousine, for example, made me smile.
At another level it’s educated stuff. It’s full of casual references to, and quotes from, literature such as Shakespeare’s plays and nineteenth century novels. There’s even a passing reference to Josephine Tey’s The Franchise Affair. Cooper knows her Bach from her Bartok (see – she’s got me at it now) too. I beamed broadly at the concept of enthusiastic humping to the pounding of the Brahms B flat piano concerto.
Moreover Cooper is rather good at character (and dogs). Cameron Cook is a highly successful, glitteringly attractive producer who takes no prisoners – and yet she’s also desperately vulnerable. Her attempts to bond (would a woman like her really be so competent in the kitchen?) with Rupert’s truculent daughter are well observed. And I really liked Taggy – Declan’s daughter who is severely dyslexic, earnest, the family mainstay, a very talented chef/caterer and tantalisingly pretty. Taggy has emotions she tries to keep hidden. And she turns out to be a pretty good advocate for Venturer – who gets her heart’s desire in the end, unlikely as it seems. Her dyslexia is a bit odd though. Maybe it was less well understood in 1985 when Rivals was written. In all my years of teaching I never met a dyslexic who was effectively unable to read anything at all.
This 720 page novel is the second volume in Cooper’s hugely popular eleven-title Rutshire Chronicles series. She eventually had me hooked me in a mild sort of way and I found myself cheering for Venturer and actually caring about the characters by the time I’d reached the 50% mark. It is, however, too long for what it is.
Rivals is marketed these days as a “classic” and yes, it’s odd to be in a world in which people fly on Concorde, vote for Regan (or not), go to Woolworths and have portable televisions, among many other period touches. I was approaching 40 and the mother of children aged 13 and 9 when this book was published. It doesn’t seem so long ago to me. And yet …
Next week on Susan’s Bookshelves: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
