Riders (novel)
 First edition | |
| Author | Jilly Cooper |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Romance novel |
| Publisher | Arlington Books Ltd. |
Publication date | 1985 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Hardback, Paperback and Audiobook |
| ISBN | 0-552-15055-X |
| OCLC | 51914056 |
| Followed by | Rivals |
Riders is a 1985 novel written by the English author Jilly Cooper. It is the first of a series of romance novels known as the Rutshire Chronicles, which are set in the fictional English county of Rutshire. The story focuses on the lives of a group of top show jumping stars and follows the ups and downs of both their personal and professional lives. It was turned into a television film, Riders (1993), directed by Gabrielle Beaumont for Anglia Television and broadcast on the ITV Network.
On 5 November 2019 BBC News included Riders on its list of the 100 most inspiring novels.[1]
Plot
[edit]Set against the backdrop of the English Cotswolds countryside, Riders follows the fortunes of a group of fame- and money-hungry show jumping stars.
Jake Lovell, the gypsy-born hero of the novel, is a brilliant horseman desperately seeking revenge for years of bullying at the hands of the glamorous but brutish aristocrat Rupert Campbell-Black. With the help of his rich debutante wife, Tory Maxwell, he is able to set himself up his own yard and begins building a reputation on the show-jumping circuit. Meanwhile, Rupert is content living the jet-set lifestyle with best friend Billy Lloyd-Foxe, plus a string of beautiful women, horses and dogs. Meeting his beautiful wife, Helen Macaulay, does little to curb his promiscuity and he eventually falls back into a life of parties, alcohol, and casual sex.
When Jake and Rupert meet again for the first time since school, old rivalries are reawakened as they fight it out to prove who is the greater horseman and, perhaps more importantly, the greater lover. Along the way, Cooper gives us a peek into the lives of this close-knit community of tops riders, their horses, grooms and families. We see the highs and lows of life in the equestrian world, but who will eventually come out on top in the final showdown at the Los Angeles Olympics?
Cover
[edit]When first published in 1985, the book's cover somewhat controversially depicted "a man's hand resting intimately on the seat of a woman's jodhpurs". The 2015 30th-anniversary edition's toned-down cover artwork moved the male hand from where it was firmly gripping the female rider's bottom to a much higher position nearer to her hip, generating some backlash from fans.[2]
Reception
[edit]Cooper has unfavourably compared her 2010 novel Jump! to this and other early works.[3]
Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed in May 2023 that Riders, along with other Cooper novels, were his favourite books.[4] There is also a cliché about young women at some British boarding schools sharing copies of the novel to learn about sex.[5] The novel appears in Eton Rogue.[6]
References
[edit]- ^
"100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts". BBC News. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
The reveal kickstarts the BBC's year-long celebration of literature.
- ^ Flood, Alison (3 June 2015). "Jilly Cooper's Riders: why the toned-down cover?". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ Jarvis, Katie (8 December 2010). "Jilly Cooper jumps to it!". Great British Life. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
- ^ Burge, Amy; McAlister, Jodi; Ireland, Charlotte (31 August 2023). ""Prince Charming with an Erection": The Sensational Pleasures of the Bonkbuster". Contemporary Women's Writing. 17 (2): 137–155. doi:10.1093/cww/vpae002. ISSN 1754-1484.
- ^ Money-Coutts, Sophia (9 August 2018). "Sophia Money-Coutts: Bonkbusters taught me everything I know about sex". The i Paper. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
- ^ Coles, William (2 May 2024). Eton Rogue (in Arabic). Legend Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-915643-32-2.
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