We were deeply saddened to hear that Dame Jilly Cooper has passed away at the age of 88 following a fall at her home.
Like many teenage girls in the 80s, I first discovered her books sneakily pulling a copy of Riders from my mum’s shelves - far too young for its gloriously racy content. Your options were thin on the ground; Judy Blume guided us through all the highs and awkwardness of first crushes, but beyond that, it was the classics - Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, lined up in their matching faux-leather cases - or the forbidden books with suggestive covers that whispered of grown-up worlds.
