Turn Right at the Spotted Dog: And Other Diversions

by Jilly Cooper

After going to live in the country Jilly Cooper wrote regularly for the Mail on Sunday for several years and this is a selection of her best pieces written at that time. The topics she covers in her inimitable style range from the hunt balls and Henley to love and sex in the ages of AIDS.She interviews Margaret Thatcher, Neil Kinnock, Lord Hailsham, the cast of Eastenders and the proprietress of a famous brothel in the Nevada desert and writes about her fellow human beings and their foibles provocatively, affectionately and sometimes outrageously. Her portraits of family life in the Cooper household remain the most ruthless and hilarious of all.

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback

First published November 30, 2011

About the author

Dame 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.

Reviews

[Tom Godfrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jilly Cooper is undeniably a talented writer, and ‘Turn Right at the Spotted Dog’ showcases her wit and charm in spades. Her observations on rural life, society, and personal anecdotes are delivered with a humour that makes for an enjoyable read.

However, despite her engaging writing style, I found myself struggling to fully appreciate the book. Much of Cooper's content is deeply rooted in specific contexts and references that, unfortunately, I am not familiar with. This lack of familiarity with many of the topics she discusses made it challenging for me to connect with the material.

It's clear that this is a personal shortcoming rather than a reflection on Cooper's talent. For readers who share her background or have a better grasp of the cultural references, ‘Turn Right at the Spotted Dog’ will likely be a much more rewarding experience.

[Ms Jayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good old Jilly! Sadly missed.

This wonderful collection is like opening a time capsule of English life in the mid-80s. Cooper's depiction of English country life from her Daily Mail columns is exactly like her novels. Word for word in some cases (but none the worse for that!).

However, her evident crushes on Leslie Grantham and David Gower are one thing but Jilly really LOVES Thatcher-Milk-Snatcher in her interview, praising her for her evident sexuality and attractiveness and motherliness. Still, maybe she was a great journalist (or a champion sucker-upper).

The lengthy description of Andrew and Fergie's wedding was hilarious to read in the week he lost his title and the couple were disgraced as amoral grifters. Brilliant read, probably for all the wrong reasons.

Thanks Jilly!

[Beverly Hollandbeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays by a British writer. I did not understand a lot of what she was talking about because there were so many British allusions and slang and language differences. It was jam-packed with very creative puns, however. I'm sure I missed a lot of those, too.

[Lark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Jilly Cooper's non fiction. She has a brilliant way of describing things in terms that seem inevitable, but which no one else seems to have thought of. This is a collection of essays/pieces written over five years. They present an interesting snapshot of England in the 1980s, as Jilly C knew a lot of the social movers and shakers of the time. Most of the book is solid four-star, but a few of the interviews are less interesting to me because they're with UK polis or sportspeople of whom I know almost nothing and in whom I have almost no interest. (Though I did google-image a few of them to see if they still looked the way she describes them!)

[Very Casual · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't get some of the references to British celebs of the past, but still a good giggle ;)