She always created OTT characters too, but somehow "Jump" was a little too bland with stereotypes and forced puns. Etta never feels at the centre of the story as the other characters drown her out (and this is terribly maddening as I was looking forward to reading an protagonist who isn't the usual first-flush of youth type).

Jilly is at her best when she mixes her existing characters with new characters and tells stories of their lives and involvement in this horse world. I don't know much about horse racing and horse owning syndicates but that didn't matter at all because everything that needed to be explained was covered. This is the sort of blissful silliness one looks for in a Jilly Cooper, and to have to pick it out from digressions on bombs and al-Qaida is annoying to say the least. Thank you for giving me another wonderful ready, I can’t wait for your next book about Rupert turning 60. When Etta's home is sold out from under her and she's installed in a cramped little house close to her son and daughter-in-law, she's expected to be cook and full-time nanny for her spoiled brattish grandchildren, but the village into which she's propelled, Willowwood, has a cast of interesting characters and--because this is, after all, a Jilly Cooper novel--romance eventually blossoms, and not only for Etta.Plenty of old favourites, like Rupert Campbell-Black, along with a whole new village of characters to fall in love with. The plot worked very well for me, with such a cast of characters it needed to be involved enough to keep the reader interested without becoming over complicated.

Once again we're thrown into the world of all things horses and though I'm not a horsey person as such, Ms Cooper enters the arena in her own inimitable way! The food was delicious, the clothes covetable (I distinctly remember a tight linen dress the colour of a New York taxi), even the perfumes were precisely matched to character (Fracas for the bitches, L'Eau d'Issey for the eco-types). It's my opinion that Cooper has lost it - she's lost her magic touch and her natural story-telling ability. After a nail-biting court case, she is awarded to Etta, thus ensuring the lasting and vengeful enmity of her former trainer and owner. I picked this one up for fun over Christmas and never have I laughed so much (except maybe at Lula in Janet Evanovichs Stephanie Plum series of books!Rafiq was a great character, and it is clear that Jilly is not racist in any way - and in fact was trying to present Muslims in a good light - but it felt so tacked on to the rest of the story. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Slow to get started, huge info dumps, scenes and chapters that end in strange places, and a heroine who's pushed off the page by too many other characters sharing the stage. The only thing on earth that made me want to read this book was that it was about horse racing, I'm a racing fanatic so the story of finding an abused horse near to death and saving it and turning it into a champion attracted me. Jilly shows rare skill in presenting relationships from all walks of life - from bullying, to infidelity, from temporary passion, to love.