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Rutshire Chronicles #8
Wicked!
Britain’s number one bestselling author turns her brilliant pen to the explosive world of education.
Two schools, both in leafy Larkminster, but worlds apart, are turned upside down when the ambitious and fatally attractive headmaster of fashionable Bagley Hall, Hengist Brett-Taylor, hatches a plan to share the highly superior facilities of his school with the students at Larkminster Comprehensive. His reasons for doing so are purely financial but he is also encouraged by the opportunities the scheme gives him for frequent meetings with Janna Curtis, the young, pretty and enthusiastic new principal of the comprehensive school. The determined Janna has been drafted in to save what is a fast-sinking school from closure, and she will do anything to rescue her run-down, demoralized and cash-strapped school.
The parents of Bagley Hall’s rich and pampered children are none too keen on this radical move, but the students see it as a great opportunity to get up to even more mayhem than usual. And for the pupils at the comprehensive school, many of them struggling with appalling home backgrounds, violence and lack of any parental support (problems which are not unknown to some of the Bagley Hall pupils) mixing with the posh school up the road is often a mixed blessing.
Two schools, both in leafy Larkminster, but worlds apart, are turned upside down when the ambitious and fatally attractive headmaster of fashionable Bagley Hall, Hengist Brett-Taylor, hatches a plan to share the highly superior facilities of his school with the students at Larkminster Comprehensive. His reasons for doing so are purely financial but he is also encouraged by the opportunities the scheme gives him for frequent meetings with Janna Curtis, the young, pretty and enthusiastic new principal of the comprehensive school. The determined Janna has been drafted in to save what is a fast-sinking school from closure, and she will do anything to rescue her run-down, demoralized and cash-strapped school.
The parents of Bagley Hall’s rich and pampered children are none too keen on this radical move, but the students see it as a great opportunity to get up to even more mayhem than usual. And for the pupils at the comprehensive school, many of them struggling with appalling home backgrounds, violence and lack of any parental support (problems which are not unknown to some of the Bagley Hall pupils) mixing with the posh school up the road is often a mixed blessing.
1120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
229 people are currently reading
1512 people want to read
About the author
Jilly Cooper
91 books859 followersDame Jilly Cooper, OBE (born February 21, 1937) was an English author. She started 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 was most famous for writing the six blockbuster novels the Rutshire Chronicles.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
January 13, 2022
The idea that a 1,110 page book with a 16 page character index is the light palate cleanser I needed to eradicate my reading slump is laughable, but here we are. This book is by no means perfect and it definitely could have been a lot shorter, but was entertaining throughout. Fun, vintage British chick lit
November 3, 2011
Jilly Cooper fits like a glove into the "guilty pleasures" category. I knew this book, like the ones before, will be formulaic, poorly written, bloated and with soap opera characters whose priorities will be (in approximate order) : sex, booze, partying, sex, food, pets, glamourous locations, sex, clothes, and so on ... For all these grumbles, Cooper retains some of the energy and risque sense of humor that made me pick herin the first place.
Wicked didn't break the mold. A lot of personages from previous books are present and up to their usual antics. The main theme here deals with education, mainly with the tensions between public and private education in the form of two schools in the iddylic location of Cotswold. On one side the privileged, moneyed and decadent offspring of the jet set; on the other the street urchins of a slummy council estate. Compared with other Rutshire adventures, this one is less about hopping from one posh location to another, and more focused on characters. Dealing with teenagers, but unable to tone down the underage drinking and underage sex that made her books popular, Wicked might be more provocative / cringeworthy than other Rutshire installments. Again I felt the writer might be a little tired or blaze and didn't put as much effort in creating some originality. Most of the women are the clingy sort, prone to tears and in need of a dominating male figure with broad shoulders and predatory urges. Most of the males are cads, abusing their consorts and lying through their teeth in order to get them to bed.
The kids are all right, in general, especially the irrepressible Dora - the best thing I got out of this book. The research and the details about the education system are also quite good, and made the journey more palatable.
In conclusion : a typical Jilly Cooper romp, probably not the best starting point for readers unfamiliar with her style, but a decent addition to the shelves of her fans.
Wicked didn't break the mold. A lot of personages from previous books are present and up to their usual antics. The main theme here deals with education, mainly with the tensions between public and private education in the form of two schools in the iddylic location of Cotswold. On one side the privileged, moneyed and decadent offspring of the jet set; on the other the street urchins of a slummy council estate. Compared with other Rutshire adventures, this one is less about hopping from one posh location to another, and more focused on characters. Dealing with teenagers, but unable to tone down the underage drinking and underage sex that made her books popular, Wicked might be more provocative / cringeworthy than other Rutshire installments. Again I felt the writer might be a little tired or blaze and didn't put as much effort in creating some originality. Most of the women are the clingy sort, prone to tears and in need of a dominating male figure with broad shoulders and predatory urges. Most of the males are cads, abusing their consorts and lying through their teeth in order to get them to bed.
The kids are all right, in general, especially the irrepressible Dora - the best thing I got out of this book. The research and the details about the education system are also quite good, and made the journey more palatable.
In conclusion : a typical Jilly Cooper romp, probably not the best starting point for readers unfamiliar with her style, but a decent addition to the shelves of her fans.
April 26, 2007
Another splendid page-turner from Jilly Cooper. There are a few bits of child abuse covered therein, which upset me, but were crucial to the plot, having been perpetrated by the "baddies". I was rooting on the side of the "goodies/underdog" all the way through. Cooper lets some familiar characters loose in that familiar GSOH irreverant style and ties it all in at the end with a few Kleenex moments. It's another toffs v. scum-come-good done in an educational setting. If you've read some of Cooper's other books you'll be familiar with the toff school. A thoroughly diverting good read.
July 8, 2012
I don't make a habit of listing books specifically to say I didn't like them. This is one of the few exceptions.
My major ( and it is MAJOR ) bug bear, is the character of Rocky, a pupil at Lark-hill comp.
I have a son with Autism so I'm always pleased when I hear that a writer has included a character with the condition.
I usually enjoy a Jilly Cooper, but this time I'm sad to say I was tempted to throw the book through the window.
Firstly we're told that Autism and ADHD are names for the same condition.
No,no, no !!! The two conditions can come together,but they are different. It infuriates me that this error was allowed to remain in the finished book.
Worse was the fact that to my eyes Rocky was not a character, but a caricature. I could identify no reason he was in the story, other than to provide, cheap and frankly cruel laughs.
Yes those with Autism can have some odd ways (my son included) but their adorable quirkiness,and the ways in which we can learn to live with, and love them should provide a much gentler humour than this.
My major ( and it is MAJOR ) bug bear, is the character of Rocky, a pupil at Lark-hill comp.
I have a son with Autism so I'm always pleased when I hear that a writer has included a character with the condition.
I usually enjoy a Jilly Cooper, but this time I'm sad to say I was tempted to throw the book through the window.
Firstly we're told that Autism and ADHD are names for the same condition.
No,no, no !!! The two conditions can come together,but they are different. It infuriates me that this error was allowed to remain in the finished book.
Worse was the fact that to my eyes Rocky was not a character, but a caricature. I could identify no reason he was in the story, other than to provide, cheap and frankly cruel laughs.
Yes those with Autism can have some odd ways (my son included) but their adorable quirkiness,and the ways in which we can learn to live with, and love them should provide a much gentler humour than this.
July 22, 2009
Wicked indeed! I love the English terms for everything. Smoking fags, old people are wrinkles, snogging. This is awesome , drama, sex, and fun! My kind of book!! I will be looking forward to the next Jilly Cooper book as soon as I put this one down.
April 9, 2013
I love I love I love. I gulped it in two days and was so obsessed, I didn't feel like doing anything else. This one takes place over 3-4 years and follows Janna, a young and idealistic head of school, who is given the impossible task of rejuvenating and saving Larkminster School, the school that is for the kids for the British equivalent of the 'projects' - the neglected kids of the large counsel estate. It doesn't help that the board wants her to fail so that they can close the school and sell the land for a pretty penny.
Janna is a complex character - she is smart, dedicated and infinitely caring, but she also has a disastrous temper and a weakness for married men. One of these married men is Hengist Brett-Taylor, the head of Bagley, the infinitely posh and expensive private school. Driven in part by idealism and in part by Janna's charms, Hengist offers to merge the schools for certain activities and that unleashes all sorts of things. Once again, this has a cast of thousands - the adults include Emlyn, the hunky Welsh teacher/rugby coach; the horrifying Randal Stancombe, who is a ruthless developer; Lily and the Brigadier, Janna's eldery but awesome neighbors; Alex and Poppet Bruce, the second-in-command at Bagley and his wife, who are straight out of Dickens in their awfulness.
The kids include the awful, borderline sociopath Cosmo Rannaldini who is, nonetheless, very entertaining, and his thuggish 'bodyguards;' the gorgeous Bianca Campbell-Black who is the darling of her posh school but is utterly smitten by 'Feral' (no, thank God, it's only a nickname), a kid from the projects with a junkie mother and dyslexia, but utter genius at sports; the bitchy queen bee Jade Stancombe; Pearl, who is amazing at make-up and fashion but shoplifts and cuts herself; Kylie Rose, who's had her first kid at 12; Xavier Campbell-Black, bullied and sullen but who finds himself; and my favorites, Paris Alvaston and Dora Belvedon - Dora being the youngest offspring of a doting (but dead) father and a horrible bitch of a mother. Dora supplements her income by selling things to tabloids, she smuggled her dog to school, and she is hopelessly in love with Paris Alvaston, who has been brought up in various orphanages and has no idea who his parents are (and who would so be my obsessive crush if I read this book at 16). Paris is obsessed with books and is actually incredibly smart, plus good-looking enough to have even the posh girls at Bagley swooning. However, he also has about a metric ton of issues about trust, opening up and affection. He's also coping with some awful stuff but to say more would be spoilery...We also get to see more of Rupert and Taggie (still in love after 20 years, yay!) and their brood and I won't say more except for AWWWWWWWW.
But I must put in a warning - this is, in some ways, a lot darker than her other books - the kids are having underage sex and doing drugs galore, and there is a subplot about child molesters. Doesn't bother me, but MMV though I confess I had to age up all the kids a couple of years in my head, no matter what JC kept telling me about their ages, because I am not going to buy a 12-yr-old selling stories to tabloids, and while I am willing to buy people finding their 'forever love' at a young age, surely three couples doing so is stretching it a bit. But I don't care, even with that, and JC's lack of understanding of tattoos (if you get one at age 10, even supposing you could find someone to give it to you, which seeing it's the slums, you may, by the time you hit 16 and are 6' tall, your tattoo is going to be bent out of all recognition, no matter where it is. I know it's a big plot point, but still, give the guy a mole or something instead) because it's so awesome, I love it anyway because it's so entertaining and emo and hits all the right notes and gives me a ton of ships - Janna/Emlyn, Dora/Paris, even Bianca/Feral.
Janna is a complex character - she is smart, dedicated and infinitely caring, but she also has a disastrous temper and a weakness for married men. One of these married men is Hengist Brett-Taylor, the head of Bagley, the infinitely posh and expensive private school. Driven in part by idealism and in part by Janna's charms, Hengist offers to merge the schools for certain activities and that unleashes all sorts of things. Once again, this has a cast of thousands - the adults include Emlyn, the hunky Welsh teacher/rugby coach; the horrifying Randal Stancombe, who is a ruthless developer; Lily and the Brigadier, Janna's eldery but awesome neighbors; Alex and Poppet Bruce, the second-in-command at Bagley and his wife, who are straight out of Dickens in their awfulness.
The kids include the awful, borderline sociopath Cosmo Rannaldini who is, nonetheless, very entertaining, and his thuggish 'bodyguards;' the gorgeous Bianca Campbell-Black who is the darling of her posh school but is utterly smitten by 'Feral' (no, thank God, it's only a nickname), a kid from the projects with a junkie mother and dyslexia, but utter genius at sports; the bitchy queen bee Jade Stancombe; Pearl, who is amazing at make-up and fashion but shoplifts and cuts herself; Kylie Rose, who's had her first kid at 12; Xavier Campbell-Black, bullied and sullen but who finds himself; and my favorites, Paris Alvaston and Dora Belvedon - Dora being the youngest offspring of a doting (but dead) father and a horrible bitch of a mother. Dora supplements her income by selling things to tabloids, she smuggled her dog to school, and she is hopelessly in love with Paris Alvaston, who has been brought up in various orphanages and has no idea who his parents are (and who would so be my obsessive crush if I read this book at 16). Paris is obsessed with books and is actually incredibly smart, plus good-looking enough to have even the posh girls at Bagley swooning. However, he also has about a metric ton of issues about trust, opening up and affection. He's also coping with some awful stuff but to say more would be spoilery...We also get to see more of Rupert and Taggie (still in love after 20 years, yay!) and their brood and I won't say more except for AWWWWWWWW.
But I must put in a warning - this is, in some ways, a lot darker than her other books - the kids are having underage sex and doing drugs galore, and there is a subplot about child molesters. Doesn't bother me, but MMV though I confess I had to age up all the kids a couple of years in my head, no matter what JC kept telling me about their ages, because I am not going to buy a 12-yr-old selling stories to tabloids, and while I am willing to buy people finding their 'forever love' at a young age, surely three couples doing so is stretching it a bit. But I don't care, even with that, and JC's lack of understanding of tattoos (if you get one at age 10, even supposing you could find someone to give it to you, which seeing it's the slums, you may, by the time you hit 16 and are 6' tall, your tattoo is going to be bent out of all recognition, no matter where it is. I know it's a big plot point, but still, give the guy a mole or something instead) because it's so awesome, I love it anyway because it's so entertaining and emo and hits all the right notes and gives me a ton of ships - Janna/Emlyn, Dora/Paris, even Bianca/Feral.
September 9, 2018
Listen, I was going to start this off with a disclaimer about never having read erotica, or being very well interested in romance at all. But even people who read these genres should be appalled.
!WHAT THE FUCK!
The first 40% were surprisingly good. I’d read a review that had expressed Jilly’s outdated characterisations and had very low expectations about the fact the book was erotica. But that first 40% had maybe one or two steamy moments in the form of accidentally brushing hands and longing stares. For the most part it focused heavily on the plot of Janna reforming a comprehensive school bound for the chop. Moving swiftly into her developing friendships with her most troubled students. Using the help of some rich dudes because your girls got game, she was able to fund certain activities to help lead her students back on exemplary academic tracks.
If the book had ended there it would’ve been a satisfactory read, not groundbreaking. Just, alright no regrets.
But it just goes on and on and oooooooooooooooooooooooon...
Like 3 years go by between the 40% mark and the end of the book. I could even stomach the insane length because the book reads like some shitty drama show that you watch if only to feel better about the fact that your own life isn’t as fucked up. But the last portion of the book put that passive notion in the blender.
The end was so fucked. Like, what was that nonsense?!
To start, the characterisation started heavily slipping. Previously responsible, shy but determined, if naïve Janna became a flip-flopping alcoholic with no direction or autonomy. Hengist, from a charmer making the same mistake twice to being just short of a sociapath. Paris a quiet spoken, doting on his headmistress type of bad boy, like I don’t even think I can put it into words how much his character got fucked up. Like was Jilly aware she was writing about the same boy or???? The children of Larks went from entertaining yet incredibly endearing background noise to the main plot to just disa-fucking-ppearing. Like, I can only assume they blinked out of existence, is this set in the Marvel Universe? Is Thanos’ reach really that far?
Oh girl, don’t even get me started on the ‘antagonists’ from bitching little fat men and women that just constantly talked down at the other characters with intense greed into literal arms and class A drugs suppliers, pedophiles, serial rapists and possibly murderers.
Oh yeah TW: rape. Out of fucking nowhere and treated like some joke. Like there’s a happy and healthy lesbian relationship that’s met with more seriousness and antagonism via other characters than a sex trafficking ring with all the victims being aged 13 years and younger.
Lot’s of racism. I’m not sure if a white woman (even if she is writing dialogue for a black child) can use the N word. Lot’s of hate against Liberals, even with the main being one. Two sets of random ass insta-love in what I can only assume was an attempt to tie ends without elongating an already too long book. All the children were described in sexually explicit ways. Like is this pedophilic prose normal for the erotica genre? Even if you’re trying to make social commentary on the hyper-sexualisation of children in the modern age I’m sure there’s a better way, one that doesn’t seem to pander so heavily to pedophiles.
Oh I know, ‘it’s only an erotica novel’. But seriously, it’s ridiculous this was cleared for publishing. Not saying a book can’t contain offensive things because: drama, just that one needs to be smart when introducing such topics.
Honestly the more i read it the worse it got.
DO NOT READ.
!WHAT THE FUCK!
The first 40% were surprisingly good. I’d read a review that had expressed Jilly’s outdated characterisations and had very low expectations about the fact the book was erotica. But that first 40% had maybe one or two steamy moments in the form of accidentally brushing hands and longing stares. For the most part it focused heavily on the plot of Janna reforming a comprehensive school bound for the chop. Moving swiftly into her developing friendships with her most troubled students. Using the help of some rich dudes because your girls got game, she was able to fund certain activities to help lead her students back on exemplary academic tracks.
If the book had ended there it would’ve been a satisfactory read, not groundbreaking. Just, alright no regrets.
But it just goes on and on and oooooooooooooooooooooooon...
Like 3 years go by between the 40% mark and the end of the book. I could even stomach the insane length because the book reads like some shitty drama show that you watch if only to feel better about the fact that your own life isn’t as fucked up. But the last portion of the book put that passive notion in the blender.
The end was so fucked. Like, what was that nonsense?!
To start, the characterisation started heavily slipping. Previously responsible, shy but determined, if naïve Janna became a flip-flopping alcoholic with no direction or autonomy. Hengist, from a charmer making the same mistake twice to being just short of a sociapath. Paris a quiet spoken, doting on his headmistress type of bad boy, like I don’t even think I can put it into words how much his character got fucked up. Like was Jilly aware she was writing about the same boy or???? The children of Larks went from entertaining yet incredibly endearing background noise to the main plot to just disa-fucking-ppearing. Like, I can only assume they blinked out of existence, is this set in the Marvel Universe? Is Thanos’ reach really that far?
Oh girl, don’t even get me started on the ‘antagonists’ from bitching little fat men and women that just constantly talked down at the other characters with intense greed into literal arms and class A drugs suppliers, pedophiles, serial rapists and possibly murderers.
Oh yeah TW: rape. Out of fucking nowhere and treated like some joke. Like there’s a happy and healthy lesbian relationship that’s met with more seriousness and antagonism via other characters than a sex trafficking ring with all the victims being aged 13 years and younger.
Lot’s of racism. I’m not sure if a white woman (even if she is writing dialogue for a black child) can use the N word. Lot’s of hate against Liberals, even with the main being one. Two sets of random ass insta-love in what I can only assume was an attempt to tie ends without elongating an already too long book. All the children were described in sexually explicit ways. Like is this pedophilic prose normal for the erotica genre? Even if you’re trying to make social commentary on the hyper-sexualisation of children in the modern age I’m sure there’s a better way, one that doesn’t seem to pander so heavily to pedophiles.
Oh I know, ‘it’s only an erotica novel’. But seriously, it’s ridiculous this was cleared for publishing. Not saying a book can’t contain offensive things because: drama, just that one needs to be smart when introducing such topics.
Honestly the more i read it the worse it got.
DO NOT READ.
February 25, 2010
Don't waste your time...but sadly, it hooked me in a totally trashy car-wreck of a way.
April 15, 2012
I like this book, but there is too much underage sex in it for me. Though it's charming all the same.
November 11, 2015
Just to clarify... I was made to read this for bookclub. It should be called 'cliche'.
February 16, 2022
At nigh on 1,000 pages this was a bit of a slog.
August 12, 2015
What a load of old tripe! Picked this up on audio from the library without realising it was Jilly cooper. It goes on forever. Has way too many sub plots with the main plot frequently pushed aside and a ridiculous amount of main characters, pretty much all of whom are unconvincing. I constantly found myself thinking "who is she talking about now..."
Cooper is obviously known for her sexual plots but the 16 year old having sex with a teacher was weird and so was the hastily added on plot about child abuse. This was the last thing I was expecting and was not needed.
Can't help but notice that many of the people who rate this book highly state how it gives them a taste of England...um no! Not the England I grew up in!
Cooper is obviously known for her sexual plots but the 16 year old having sex with a teacher was weird and so was the hastily added on plot about child abuse. This was the last thing I was expecting and was not needed.
Can't help but notice that many of the people who rate this book highly state how it gives them a taste of England...um no! Not the England I grew up in!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2010
Not nearly as good as Jilly's earlier stuff. It was really, really creepy reading the child sex scenes. I really didn't want to read about the size of a 15-year-olds' willy. Made me feel like a filthy old woman. The only great character was 10-year-old Dora. But again, I could have done without the description of her high firm little bottom. Jilly should stick to good old-fashioned adult bonkfests.
December 30, 2022
This book was about a principal who is put in charge of a disadvantaged school and has to fight to keep it open.
I thought this book was ok. There were some funny parts but also some dark parts. Mostly it was long. Really really long. It covers two years (and some extra time after the school year). At over 1000 pages it is quite a commitment. The book didn’t wow me but others seemed to really love it.
I thought this book was ok. There were some funny parts but also some dark parts. Mostly it was long. Really really long. It covers two years (and some extra time after the school year). At over 1000 pages it is quite a commitment. The book didn’t wow me but others seemed to really love it.
March 28, 2012
What can I say, I love Jilly Cooper! She immediately transports me to an English town full of eccentric characters and lots of laughter. I always feel better when I read these books and this one does not disappoint.
September 7, 2015
not her best book in the series, not enough scandal, sex and rock and roll compared to the others and the characters are too many therefore you don't particularly invest your time in any which one. but it was still a great read, well written and funny.
July 29, 2011
It had some slower bits, but by the end I was wanting it to go on. The characters were very interesting & it was fun to see the British school system.
August 10, 2013
This is the first Jilly Cooper book I have read and it will be the last. What a load of rubbish. I am only glad that I didn't buy it, it was given to me as a holiday read.
October 10, 2014
A very long, fun and entertaining romp. A great escape for school teachers. Read it while on vacation.
November 11, 2022
I love Jilly cooper.... And seeing the Campbell black Next Gen but not too much of an actual story. So it was a little more boring..... But still enjoyable
July 24, 2022
It's taken me forever to finish this! Sadly it's the worst of the series so far - yes even worse than Score! I'm not too bothered about there being no plot but didn't like any of the main characters, especially wet blanket Janna and gormless Paris. The only real highlight for me was Cosmo. Sadly there wasn't much of Dame Hermione as I absolutely adore her. I did enjoy reading the acknowledgements as several people I used to know were mentioned!
January 14, 2026
What a lovely amuse-bouche between the piles of more serious novels lined up patiently waiting for me. I’ve been a Jilly Cooper fan since Riders: Wicked, with its 800 plus pages, gave me some glorious respite from the sheets of January rain outside, as I lost myself in visions of dogs, horses, cow parsley and vats of drink.
June 28, 2020
Outdated trash but kept me entertained for 1000 pages.
October 8, 2017
Oh dear. It's so long since I've read a Jilly Cooper. It was fun in parts but repetitive with all the couplings going on. Think I won't repeat the experiment.
January 16, 2021
A compulsive yarn centred around education in the Noughties, featuring the offspring of characters in Cooper’s earlier books. The only thing that spoiled it for me was the relentless tub-thumping for the Tories, where the author’s own political views seemed to get in the way of the story.
May 9, 2024
Wicked is decidedly a mixed bag. Cooper retains her signature scathing wit and fabulous characterisation, which makes all of her books such a joy to read. Janna, Emlyn, and everyone at Larks are really excellent fun and Janna is genuinely up there with Daisy as one of my favourite Cooper characters.
This is the one of Cooper’s books that feels the most dated; something of a surprise, considering it’s one of her most recent. But hindsight makes a couple of plot points particularly regrettable, most notably .
Wicked is also Cooper’s most explicitly political book. And while it’s interesting to read something from a perspective I might not otherwise engage with, Cooper spends well over a hundred pages banging on about the evils wrought by Tony Blair, which frankly just gets boring. I will say though, it’s very fun little sociological study to read a book sympathetic a bunch of characters who will clearly vote for Brexit even before Brexit was a thing.
The book suffers from an ending I can only describe as crack-brained, although Cooper seems to have gotten the jump on by fifteen years.
This is the one of Cooper’s books that feels the most dated; something of a surprise, considering it’s one of her most recent. But hindsight makes a couple of plot points particularly regrettable, most notably .
Wicked is also Cooper’s most explicitly political book. And while it’s interesting to read something from a perspective I might not otherwise engage with, Cooper spends well over a hundred pages banging on about the evils wrought by Tony Blair, which frankly just gets boring. I will say though, it’s very fun little sociological study to read a book sympathetic a bunch of characters who will clearly vote for Brexit even before Brexit was a thing.
The book suffers from an ending I can only describe as crack-brained, although Cooper seems to have gotten the jump on by fifteen years.
February 8, 2015
This is one of the best of the books in the Rutshire Chronicles. After the previous book, Pandora, which I thought was the weakest in the series, this was a welcome change. The story is of two different schools, the public Larkshire High and the private Bagley Hall. The story concerns how the two schools differ due in part to the economic disparity of the students, Bagley's students come from privileged backgrounds where the Lark students live in the "inner city," many have with parents with substance abuse problems. In spite of their differences the adults and students have a lot of interaction with one another and that's where the fun begins. As is the case with most Cooper novels, the interaction produces lots of scandal, family drama, and of course romance.
Cooper fans will like this novel because the children of the adults that are featured in her other novels including Rupert Campbell-Black, Anthea Belevdon, Dame Hermione and many others, play staring roles. These are the children whose birth and young childhood we've read about in other novels, but now we get to see how they get into as much trouble as their parents. Note to readers outside of England: Cooper writes a lot about GSCE exams in this book, while these exams are foreign to many, a quick search on Google will explain their significance.
I highly recommend this to fans of Cooper. However, readers new to Cooper should start with Riders, the first book in the Rutshire Chronicles and read them in order. While each book in the series can be read as a stand alone novel reading them in order will allow you to follow the development of the characters and surrounding area as it develops. This makes the a great series of novels more enjoyable than they already are, so read them all and have fun.
Cooper fans will like this novel because the children of the adults that are featured in her other novels including Rupert Campbell-Black, Anthea Belevdon, Dame Hermione and many others, play staring roles. These are the children whose birth and young childhood we've read about in other novels, but now we get to see how they get into as much trouble as their parents. Note to readers outside of England: Cooper writes a lot about GSCE exams in this book, while these exams are foreign to many, a quick search on Google will explain their significance.
I highly recommend this to fans of Cooper. However, readers new to Cooper should start with Riders, the first book in the Rutshire Chronicles and read them in order. While each book in the series can be read as a stand alone novel reading them in order will allow you to follow the development of the characters and surrounding area as it develops. This makes the a great series of novels more enjoyable than they already are, so read them all and have fun.
October 9, 2011
I plowed through this book,at times trying to figure out what was going on. Some of this I attribute to the fact that I really don't know anything about the English education system or country lift. Once I got into it, I found myself crying over the frustrations of Janna Curtis, our heroine, a public school teacher who is brought to Larksminster comp. She arrives to find a crumbling building, out-of-control students, indifferent teachers and little local support. Everywhere she turns, it seems like someone is trying to just shut the place down and a local developer is wanting to buldoze everything and build a shopping center and high end houses, replacing the low income "estate housing" where her students live. Against these odds, she makes friends with the students and their community and is able to inspire the teachers and hire some new ones who work with her. They team up with another local private school, Bagley Hall to do a wonderful rendition of Shakespere. Some of the scenes and happenings are awful and scandal rocks the neighborhood.
Will there be a happy ending? Will she find love?
Will there be a happy ending? Will she find love?
March 7, 2015
Well this book is definitely naughty. Full to the brim of saucy situations, dodgy dealings and political scandal. It focuses on a determined, young, newly appointed headmistress to a failing school. She joins with (in more ways than one) the charming headmaster of the local public school in an attempt to build bridges and raise the profile of both schools. The council get involved, rivalry between pupils erupts and chaos ensues. I did enjoy the story of this one but I probably won't read it again. Why? Too many characters! Jilly Cooper helpfully puts a character list at the front of the book and without it I would have been totally lost! Also the ending is somewhat unexpected and shocking and I was a little taken aback by how the seriousness of it was handled. It just felt out of place from the rest of the book.
March 6, 2016
I haven't read any Jilly Cooper in years but when I saw this on Amazon for 99p and that it was set in schools I thought that it was time to give her another go.
The book is very much in the style of her other books, some of which I've read. It is containing some reoccurring characters- interesting to see how some of them have developed over the years. Many of her characters are real caricatures but there are many who really do capture your heart. I did find some of the under age sex rather disturbing. Some of the events were also very far fetched- but then you don't read Jilly Cooper for reality!
This book had me laughing out loud, cringing and reaching for the tissues- there are a couple of bits I found really pulled at the heart strings.
I raced through this book and although in all honesty I couldn't give it five stars I do find myself missing all those 'Wicked' characters!
The book is very much in the style of her other books, some of which I've read. It is containing some reoccurring characters- interesting to see how some of them have developed over the years. Many of her characters are real caricatures but there are many who really do capture your heart. I did find some of the under age sex rather disturbing. Some of the events were also very far fetched- but then you don't read Jilly Cooper for reality!
This book had me laughing out loud, cringing and reaching for the tissues- there are a couple of bits I found really pulled at the heart strings.
I raced through this book and although in all honesty I couldn't give it five stars I do find myself missing all those 'Wicked' characters!
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