Who was Jilly Cooper? Best-selling English author dies at 88

Author Dame Jilly Cooper, known for her romance novels, has reportedly died at the age of 88.

The BBC has reported that her children, Felix and Emily, confirmed the news. She died on Sunday morning after suffering a fall over the weekend. In a statement, they said:

"Mum was the shining light in all of our lives. Her love for all of her family and friends knew no bounds. We are so proud of everything she achieved in her life and can't begin to imagine life without her infectious smile and laughter."

Cooper was also most known for having executive-produced the Disney+ show Rivals, which is also a book she wrote of the same name. Season 1 debuted over a year ago, and season 2 is now reportedly in production, Deadline has reported, and is expected to launch next year. She is also known for having penned the Rutshire Chronicles and Riders.

Dame Jilly Cooper's life and legacy explored:

According to the BBC, Felicity Blunt, Cooper's agent, said in a statement:

"Jilly will undoubtedly be best remembered for her chart-topping series The Rutshire Chronicles and its havoc-making and handsome show-jumping hero Rupert Campbell-Black." She added, "You wouldn't expect books categorised as bonkbusters to have so emphatically stood the test of time but Jilly wrote with acuity and insight about all things - class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility."

She went on,

"If you tried to pay her this compliment, or any compliment, she would brush it aside. She wrote, she said, simply 'to add to the sum of human happiness'." She also called Jilly Cooper "emotionally intelligent, fantastically generous, sharply observant and utter fun." She added, "I have lost a friend, an ally, a confidante and a mentor. But I know she will live forever in the words she put on the page and on the screen."

In the wake of Jilly Cooper's demise, tributes have come pouring in. Per Deadline, Lee Mason, Executive Director of Scripted, Disney+ EMEA, said:

“We are deeply shocked and saddened by the passing of the irreplaceable Dame Jilly Cooper – a trailblazer in British literature celebrated for her joyful, naughty and insightful writing in a world often too serious. It has been a privilege to bring her beloved world of Rivals to television. Our thoughts are with Jilly’s family, friends and fans as we raise a glass – of champagne, naturally – to her extraordinary legacy.”

She concluded,

“I have lost a friend, an ally, a confidante and a mentor. But I know she will live forever in the words she put on the page and on the screen.”

Bill Scott-Kerr, Cooper’s publisher at Transworld, said that the first Rutshire Chronicles novel, Riders,

“Changed the course of popular fiction forever.” He added, “Ribald, rollicking and the very definition of good fun, it, and the ten Rutshire novels which followed it, were to inspire a generation of women, writers and otherwise, to tell it how it was, whilst giving us a cast of characters who would define a generation and beyond."

He went on,

“Working with Jilly Cooper over the past thirty years has been one of the great privileges and joys of my publishing life. Beyond her genius as a novelist, she was always a personal heroine of mine for so many other reasons. For her kindness and friendship, for her humour and irrepressible enthusiasm, for her curiosity, for her courage, and for her profound love of animals."

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