Jump!
JILLY COOPER
Contents
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Version 1.0
Epub ISBN 9781409044505
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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First published in Great Britain
in 2010 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Jilly Cooper 2010
Jilly Cooper has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBNs 9780593061534 (cased)
9780593061541 (tpb)
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To my daughter-in-law Edwina Cooper and my son-in-law Adam Tarrant with love and gratitude for the immense kindness and encouragement they gave me while writing this book.
Also by Jilly Cooper
FICTION | Riders |
NON-FICTION | Animals in War |
CHILDREN’S BOOKS | Little Mabel |
ROMANCE | Bella |
ANTHOLOGIES | The British in Love |
W | A delectable Willowwood tree surgeon. |
E | Rupert Campbell-Black’s nineteen-year-old American grandson, a gilded brat and former flat jockey who’s spending a year at his grandfather’s yard in England to try his luck at National Hunt racing. |
P | Dora Belvedon’s boyfriend and ice-cool Adonis, now in Upper Sixth at Bagley Hall and dickering between Cambridge and RADA. |
A | The youngest stable lass at Marius Oakridge’s yard, Throstledown. |
A | The new young mistress of Bluebell Hill. |
C | Known as Chris and Chrissie. Landlord and lady of the Fox, Willowwood’s pub. |
S | Drop-dead gorgeous actor, known as Mr Bulging Crotchester, who with his considerably older and more famous mistress, actress Corinna Waters, lives part of the year in Willowwood in a house inappropriately called the Old Rectory. Seth and Corinna have an open partnership. |
S | A hugely successful field marshal of industry specializing in property and engineering. A charismatic shit, whose failing health in no way diminishes his ability to bully and control. |
E | Sampson’s delightful but dreadfully downtrodden wife. |
M | Sampson and Etta’s self-regarding son, who gives up the City in favour of fundraising with a celebrity-tapping bias. Has houses in Chiswick and Willowwood. |
R | Martin’s even smugger wife, who makes a fetish about being a stay- at-home mum. Despite enchanting looks, an egomaniac. |
D | Martin and Romy’s fiendish five-year-old son. |
P | Martin and Romy’s four-year-old applause junkie. |
C | Martin’s sister. Workaholic – hugely successful in the City, a failure as a wife and mother. Prefers to be known by her maiden name but in reality is Mrs Alan Macbeth. Houses in Knightsbridge and Willowwood. |
B | Bedding billionaire and his jolly wife. A devoted couple and very new racehorse owners. |
D | Fifteen-year-old smart cookie. Besotted with horses, dogs and Paris Alvaston. Has a somewhat dubious ability to flog stories to the national press, redeemed by an extremely kind heart. |
L | As short in inches as he is on charm. Internet tycoon specializing in porn. Has recently acquired romantic Primrose Cottage in Willowwood. |
C | Lester’s child bride, an extremely successful porn star. |
B | An Animal Rights activist. JOHNNIE BRUTUS A narcissistic Irish jockey. |
R | Owner/trainer who bestrides the racing world like a colossus. Despite being in his mid-fifties, still Mecca for most women. |
T | His enchanting second wife, an angel. |
X | Rupert and Taggie’s adopted Colombian son – a point-to-point rider. |
B | Rupert and Taggie’s ravishing adopted Colombian daughter, best friend of Dora Belvedon. |
A | A complacent, handsome amateur jockey with a very rich father. |
J | Dare’s brother, later pupil assistant to Harvey-Holden. |
B | Rupert Campbell-Black’s retained jockey, about to retire – every jockey in the land wants his job. |
C | Marius Oakridge’s long-suffering head lad. |
L | Martinet, MFH (Master of Fox Hounds) and Marius Oakridge’s most loyal owner. |
M | Retired bank manager who has wormed his way on to every committee in Willowwood. Closet letch, despite respectable exterior. |
D | The Major’s wife. A bossyboots and madly competitive gardener. Known as Direct Debbie because of her appalling lack of tact. |
J | A wonderful builder and jack of all trades. Part of the Terrible Trio syndicate with Woody and Jase, Joey has just landed a plum job masterminding the complete gutting and rebuilding of Valent Edwards’s house, Badger’s Court. |
M | Known as Mop Idol, Joey’s very comely wife who cleans for the Travis-Locks and Seth and Corinna when they’re down in Willowwood. |
V | Brusque but intensely charismatic widower and a man of the people in his middle sixties. Ex-Premier League goalkeeper remembered for his legendary save in Cup Final. Leaving football, his hawk-like goalkeeper’s eyes have found gaps in every market, making him a major player on the world stage. Valent has caused huge excitement in Willowwood, buying the big house, Badger’s Court. |
T | The village schoolmistress – excellent and loving primary teacher, whose pretty face is ruined by very buck teeth. Gagging for marriage and a family, Tilda has developed a passion for Shagger Simmons, Willowwood’s beast of a bachelor. |
N | Vicar of St James’s, Willowwood. In despair over his dwindling congregation and as yet undisclosed fondness for his own sex. Niall is drinking rather too much of his parishioners’ sherry. |
D | Harvey-Holden’s embattled head lad. |
M | Rupert Campbell-Black’s red-hot lawyer. |
C | The village leftie – Green by name and Green by nature. |
R | A controversial, networking trainer, whose Ravenscroft yard lies to the north of Willowwood. |
L | Rupert Campbell-Black’s assistant, brilliant at bringing on horses. |
H | Etta Bancroft’s gardener at Bluebell Hill. |
J | Handsome stable lad working for Marius Oakridge. |
R | A magnificently moody Pakistani with matchless looks and militant tendencies. After a stint in prison for suspected terrorism, where he learns to love and look after racehorses, Rafiq is trying to make it as a jockey. |
B | Ex-Olympic showjumper and much loved BBC sports correspondent. |
J | Billy’s wife, a totally unprincipled journalist. |
A | Billy and Janey’s ravishing daughter. A cool beauty determined to make it in National Hunt racing, where she is encountering bias against women jockeys. |
A | Carrie Bancroft’s husband. His talent as a writer is somewhat dissipated by a thirst for alcohol, only equalled by a taste for winners. Alan’s unsung skills as a househusband, on the other |
T | Carrie Bancroft and Alan Macbeth’s long-legged teenage daughter, disastrously lacking in parental attention and totally aware of her overwhelming sex appeal. |
O | Willowwood biddy who saves badgers and habitually gets the wrong end of the stick. |
M | One of Rupert Campbell-Black’s stable lads. |