Rutshire Chronicles
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The Rutshire Chronicles is a series of romantic novels by Jilly Cooper. Set in the fictional county of Rutshire, characters recur across the series repeatedly, including the upper-class MP Rupert Campbell-Black. The first book in the series was published in 1985, and the last in 2023. Three of the books from the series, Riders, Rivals and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, have been adapted for television, in 1993, 2023 and 1997 respectively.
Background
The series is set in the fictional county of Rutshire,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in the Cotswolds.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The name of the countyTemplate:Refn links to the sexual content of the books.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Cooper wrote over thirty other books in addition to this series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first book in the series was published in 1985, the most recent Tackle! in 2023.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> The series follows a cast of wealthy and largely upper-class families, and is known for its sexual plotlines and scandalous scenes.<ref name=":1" /> Indeed the Financial Times described the series in 2024 as "legendarily filthy".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Cooper was meticulous about her research for of the novels. This included travelling to Palm Beach and Argentina to research Polo.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Cooper acknowledged that the character of Rupert Campbell-Black was inspired by: the 11th Duke of Beaufort; Andrew Parker Bowles, the former husband of Queen Camilla;<ref>Rowan Pelling, On its 30th anniversary, why Riders is the best erotic fiction of all time Template:Webarchive dated 7 March 2015 at telegraph.co.uk, accessed 20 January 2018</ref> and the 21st Earl of Suffolk.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Each of the books includes a character list prior to the main text.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> These lists have been described by Tamara Atkin as a "gateway to Cooper's over-sexed landscape of horse-riding toffs" but having the additional function of familiarity for the reader throughout the series.<ref name=":0" />
Characters
- Rupert Campbell-Black
- Agatha 'Taggie' Campbell-Black, née O'Hara
- Marcus Campbell-Black
- Tabitha Campbell-Black
- Basil Baddingham
- Billy Lloyd-Foxe
- Janie Lloyd-Foxe
- Declan O'Hara
- Cameron Cook
- Tony Badingham
- Ricky France-Lynch
- Bart Alderton
- Luke Alderton
- Lysander Hawkley
- Flora Seymour
- Roberto Rannaldini
- Hermione Harefield
- Cosmo Rannaldini
- Anthea Belvedon
- Dora Belvedon
- Helen Hawkley, née McCauley (formerly Campbell-Black, Gordon, Rannaldini)
- Etta Bancroft
- Amber Lloyd-Foxe
- Valent Edwards
Rutshire Chronicles books
- Riders (1986)
- Rivals (1988; also Players in the USA<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>)
- Polo (1991)
- The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous (1993)
- Appassionata (1996)
- Score! (1999)
- Pandora (2002)
- Wicked! (2006)
- Jump! (2010)
- Mount! (2016)
- Tackle! (2023)
Adaptations
Several books from the series have been adapted for television, the first was Riders which was aired as a miniseries, despite being shot as a television film, in 1993.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Polo was due to be adapted as a TV miniseries by Anglia TV in the same year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1997, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous was adapted as a TV miniseries for ITV,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> by Anglia Television.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2016 the production company Filmwave acquired the rights to the novel, alongside those of nine other Rutshire Chronicles.<ref name=":12">Template:Cite web</ref> The company was behind the 2024 adaptation of Rivals.<ref name=":12" /> A second series of Rivals was commissioned in 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Reception
The series has influenced the real world in several ways. For example, Polo the novel brought the sport to a wider audience and attendance at matches increased.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Horses feature to a greater or lesser extent in the majority of the series, most notably in Riders, Polo, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, Mount! and Jump!; this association has been linked with other novels that focus on desire, including The Nonesuch and Regency Buck.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Cooper's recent works, including Jump! received a variety of responses from critics, with Olivia Laing in The Guardian praising "her near-magical ability to conjure up a world and populate it with people for whom you feel a deep affection".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Since the 2010s the series has been criticised for dated and problematic portrayals of race, homosexuality, gender roles and sexual consent.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her works have been described as "untouched by the #MeToo movement".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023 former British prime minister Rishi Sunak revealed that some of his favourite books were part of the series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Notes
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