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Lisa & Co.
As well as Lisa, we meet Hester, Julia, Helen and Caroline, and a host of other devastating girls, falling in and out of love, finding, losing (and often finding again sometimes in the most unexpected places) the men of their dreams.
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First published October 1, 1981
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About the author
Jilly Cooper
91 books851 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 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 12, 2018
These stories may seem a bit dated in parts as they have their roots firmly in the past with a very 1960s feel to them but for me that just adds to their charm.
All about girls falling in & out of love & looking for the man of their dreams - typical Jilly Cooper....& often not very PC but as I said they're very much of their time.
Personally, I've read them over & over (though admittedly not for a couple of decades!) as they're good romantic fun & an easy read -a perfect way to pass a few hours.
Edit: April 2018
I've been re-reading my Cooper collection & this is the last one (though I'm missing "Octavia" for some reason but I'll get over it..). Like the books, some of these stories haven't stood the test of time too well. Gone are the days of girls giving up their jobs on marrying & some of the tales have a slightly misogynistic feel to them (& a touch of grooming in one case!) but that's the 70's for you. The descriptions of some of the outfits will raise a smile if nothing else...
All about girls falling in & out of love & looking for the man of their dreams - typical Jilly Cooper....& often not very PC but as I said they're very much of their time.
Personally, I've read them over & over (though admittedly not for a couple of decades!) as they're good romantic fun & an easy read -a perfect way to pass a few hours.
Edit: April 2018
I've been re-reading my Cooper collection & this is the last one (though I'm missing "Octavia" for some reason but I'll get over it..). Like the books, some of these stories haven't stood the test of time too well. Gone are the days of girls giving up their jobs on marrying & some of the tales have a slightly misogynistic feel to them (& a touch of grooming in one case!) but that's the 70's for you. The descriptions of some of the outfits will raise a smile if nothing else...
February 20, 2014
I love Jilly Cooper so much. I think it is a shame that she is mostly unknown to American audiences, to me she is the world's preeminent trashy romance author, any of her books stands head and shoulders above anything Jackie Collins/Judith Krantz/Danielle Steel, et al...have to offer.
If you love the gluttonous, overindulgent feast of a Jilly Cooper novel, this book is like a wonderful tray of appetizers and dessert nibbles by the same chef. The fact that the stories are mostly set in the late 60s just adds to their charm. The setting may be dated, but the emotions are timeless. All the wonderful fashion and language details of the day just make them that much more delightful. All hail Queen Jilly!
If you love the gluttonous, overindulgent feast of a Jilly Cooper novel, this book is like a wonderful tray of appetizers and dessert nibbles by the same chef. The fact that the stories are mostly set in the late 60s just adds to their charm. The setting may be dated, but the emotions are timeless. All the wonderful fashion and language details of the day just make them that much more delightful. All hail Queen Jilly!
June 26, 2025
Delightful. Not only is Jilly Cooper the master of the romantic epic, but also of the short story :)
November 13, 2025
Love a Jilly rom com love a short story- perfect for a train journey - BUT the really charming story about a girl having a crush on an older boy who’s actually just been grooming her since she was 13 was a nightmare ://
June 22, 2010
Mostly loved Hereward, the springer spaniel.
August 3, 2011
Can't pretend we didn't. We did read these light weight books and we enjoyed them. In some ways, these early books are more true to who Jilly Cooper is. They are also better books than her last few.
May 16, 2015
Short stories. Some similar characters but very enjoyable.
Read
July 2, 2013Loved these little ones but hated that they ended so soon
May 2, 2019
I enjoyed this collection of 1960s-70s magazine fiction far more than it probably deserved to be enjoyed! Yes, it is classist and gendered and very snarky about things which depart from Cooper's ideas of what proper behaviour for class/gender are -- she has no patience with men who cook or girls who are career-focused past marriage, and her happy endings are finding the Right Man and getting married, so really, many of the stories are a lot like the middlebrow interwar novels I love so much, just with an eye towards 1960s/70s lifestyles. I definitely do not want to live in her world, but I find the glimpses of it fascinating.
All of that being said, there are exceptions to my summary of Cooper's attitudes -- one story has a woman journalist whose journalism career is taken somewhat seriously, one has a gay man who is stereotyped but whose heartbreak is taken seriously, and so forth. An interesting mix.
All of that being said, there are exceptions to my summary of Cooper's attitudes -- one story has a woman journalist whose journalism career is taken somewhat seriously, one has a gay man who is stereotyped but whose heartbreak is taken seriously, and so forth. An interesting mix.
April 24, 2021
I read this for nostalgic reasons when I saw it on my parents bookshelf. I loved Jilly as a teen reader.
However I was sad to find that it has not at all aged well.
Safe to say that she was writing in a different world, a world where sexism was a painful constant and there were a lot more easy admin jobs available
(Not to mention the 3 hour long boozy lunchbreaks!!)
I was laughing uproariously at these stories but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.
However I was sad to find that it has not at all aged well.
Safe to say that she was writing in a different world, a world where sexism was a painful constant and there were a lot more easy admin jobs available
(Not to mention the 3 hour long boozy lunchbreaks!!)
I was laughing uproariously at these stories but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.
February 22, 2025
This is an entertaining collection of short stories from the 60s/70s that were published in magazines like Petticoat, 19, Woman's Own, Woman's Weekly etc. It was fun to reread even though they are dated - I love Jilly Cooper!
August 25, 2025
I love Jilly Cooper and these Little Novellas had her voice and story.
Was Fun to Venture Back to the 60's, From Bull chases to Office Romances Jilly has a collection to suit all Palletes... Just wish each story was longer......
Was Fun to Venture Back to the 60's, From Bull chases to Office Romances Jilly has a collection to suit all Palletes... Just wish each story was longer......
February 14, 2022
Entertaining , light and witty.
May 22, 2025
Lovely to step back in time and re-read Jilly Cooper's stories.
September 22, 2022
I've read Jilly Cooper books all my life and I still love them. I can't help it. This is a collection of short stories, some better than others but all fun and enjoyable. Made me want to read more Jilly Cooper novels - except I've already read them all, so I'll just have to re-read some.
October 21, 2020
A really good collection of short stories and novellas by Jilly Cooper. I have listed each one below -
Loved Hester and Nico in A Pressing engagement. 3.5* Funny and romantic in the classic Jilly Cooper tradition!
Absolutely loved Julia and Richard in Forsaking All Others and hated her husband who was actually carrying on with his secretary! I just wish it had not ended as it did with Julia unknowing of her husband's actual deceit and his deliberate lie about Richard. I wish Jilly Cooper had rewritten this as a novel of its own with Julia and Richard finding one another at the end! 4* for me despite the sadness of how it ended! It should not have ended there Jilly!!!
Temporary Set-back was funny and enjoyed it despite written in the first person. 3*
Really enjoyed Sister to the Bride also written in the first person! 4*
Loved Christmas Stocking with Caroline and Jamie 3.5*
Absolutely loved The Ugly Swan with Jessica and Danny 4* where she realises that in becoming a swan she is losing the opportunity of being with Danny who liked her as she is!
An Uplifting Evening was very enjoyable around the possibility of a new romance from a meeting in a laundrette! 3.5*
Johnnie Casanova a bittersweet romance of misunderstanding and missed opportunity not resolved at the end with both Richard and Gemma missing out on what could have been between them. 3*
And May The Best Girl Win was another humorous tale with the girl not actually in the race to win the boss's attention winning it! 3.5*
Political Asylum I found to be the weakest of the short stories in this collection. For some reason I just did not engage with the story or the characters. 2*
Kate's Wedding about Kate who is marrying Hugh to the joy of her parents; neither in love with one another at times not even liking one another! And Tod her first love appearing back in her life, making her question her life as it is now and what she is settling for. There is humour, bitterness and tension throughout. This is more novella than short story due to its length in comparison to the other stories in this collection. 4* This is what I feel Forsaking All Others should have had - time to explore the story further and have a more satisfactory ending.
Lisa the story of Paul and Lisa a woman with a secret she is afraid to share with Paul. A nice, funny romance. 3.5*
The Red Angora Dress is short, humorous and sweet. 3.5*
The Square Peg is the last story of this collection and does not disappoint the reader. A nice uplifting and funny romance with Penny and Jake. 4*
Loved Hester and Nico in A Pressing engagement. 3.5* Funny and romantic in the classic Jilly Cooper tradition!
Absolutely loved Julia and Richard in Forsaking All Others and hated her husband who was actually carrying on with his secretary! I just wish it had not ended as it did with Julia unknowing of her husband's actual deceit and his deliberate lie about Richard. I wish Jilly Cooper had rewritten this as a novel of its own with Julia and Richard finding one another at the end! 4* for me despite the sadness of how it ended! It should not have ended there Jilly!!!
Temporary Set-back was funny and enjoyed it despite written in the first person. 3*
Really enjoyed Sister to the Bride also written in the first person! 4*
Loved Christmas Stocking with Caroline and Jamie 3.5*
Absolutely loved The Ugly Swan with Jessica and Danny 4* where she realises that in becoming a swan she is losing the opportunity of being with Danny who liked her as she is!
An Uplifting Evening was very enjoyable around the possibility of a new romance from a meeting in a laundrette! 3.5*
Johnnie Casanova a bittersweet romance of misunderstanding and missed opportunity not resolved at the end with both Richard and Gemma missing out on what could have been between them. 3*
And May The Best Girl Win was another humorous tale with the girl not actually in the race to win the boss's attention winning it! 3.5*
Political Asylum I found to be the weakest of the short stories in this collection. For some reason I just did not engage with the story or the characters. 2*
Kate's Wedding about Kate who is marrying Hugh to the joy of her parents; neither in love with one another at times not even liking one another! And Tod her first love appearing back in her life, making her question her life as it is now and what she is settling for. There is humour, bitterness and tension throughout. This is more novella than short story due to its length in comparison to the other stories in this collection. 4* This is what I feel Forsaking All Others should have had - time to explore the story further and have a more satisfactory ending.
Lisa the story of Paul and Lisa a woman with a secret she is afraid to share with Paul. A nice, funny romance. 3.5*
The Red Angora Dress is short, humorous and sweet. 3.5*
The Square Peg is the last story of this collection and does not disappoint the reader. A nice uplifting and funny romance with Penny and Jake. 4*
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2023
This is a lovely, lighthearted collection of short stories; I really enjoyed all of them. I'm not generally a lover of romance, but have always enjoyed Jilly Cooper's books; her characters are always entertaining and often funny and her writing style is engaging and easy to read.
The stories are certainly dated now, with most of the female characters working as secretaries, and many of them having to quit their jobs the moment they're engaged. That said though, they're still charming and entertaining.
It's very hard to choose a favourite story as they're honestly all really good. I always enjoyed Ugly Duckling, a story about a young woman desperately trying to impress a man she's been in love with for years.
I've always admired Cooper's sense of humour more than anything though, it adds a new dimension to her characters that is often missing in the romance genre.
The stories are certainly dated now, with most of the female characters working as secretaries, and many of them having to quit their jobs the moment they're engaged. That said though, they're still charming and entertaining.
It's very hard to choose a favourite story as they're honestly all really good. I always enjoyed Ugly Duckling, a story about a young woman desperately trying to impress a man she's been in love with for years.
I've always admired Cooper's sense of humour more than anything though, it adds a new dimension to her characters that is often missing in the romance genre.
December 1, 2022
This particular Jilly Cooper book has definitely not aged well, but her writing sparkles and most of the passages that are clangers to the 21st century ear can be forgiven.
October 30, 2016
Full of very short (2-5 pages) of stories - prefer the whole book to be 1 story - will read more from this author
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews