Harriet & Octavia

by Jilly Cooper

Two witty and wonderful tales by the bestselling author of Appassionata

Harriet: Harriet was shattered when her brief affair with Simon left her penniless, heartbroken and pregnant. Taking baby William, she set off for Yorkshire to work as nanny to the children of eccentric scriptwriter, Cory Erskine. But life in the country was anything but peaceful as first Cory's estranged wife turned up, then his glamorous brother Kit, and finally, of all people, Simon.

Octavia: When Octavia saw her school-friend's fabulous boy-friend she knew she just had to have him, and an invitation to join them for a weekend on a canal barge came like a gift from the gods. How could Jeremy resist her? But also along was Gareth Llewellyn, a tough, swarthy Welsh-man who seemed determined to thwart her plans.

508 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

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

[Tasneem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Jilly Cooper's love stories. She has such a keen eye for detail and she captures that Englishness in her characters quite well. She is also very good at getting the quintessential characteristics of other nationalities so that sometimes her books feel like you're meeting people you've already met before in other skins. I loved the pathos of Harriet and the trying to keep her chin up and be arrogant-ness of Octavia.

[Franziska Self Fisken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining , light and witty