The Albany Gazette - UK author Jilly Cooper dies aged 88

UK media reported that the writer, who penned the series of romantic novels known as The Rutshire Chronicles, died after a fall on Sunday.

"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," Cooper's publicist Felicity Blunt said.

The BBC and other outlets reported that Cooper had suffered a fall on Sunday morning.

Cooper's children, Felix and Emily, said their mother's "unexpected death has come as a complete shock".

"We are so proud of everything she achieved in her life and can't begin to imagine life without her infectious smile and laughter all around us," they said in a statement.

Cooper was born Jill Sallitt on February 21, 1937.

Her best-selling novels were famously filled with sex, snobbery and fun, and boasted suggestive titles such as "Tackle!", "Mount!" and "Score!".

Her books sold 11 million copies in the UK alone.

A 2024 hit adaptation of "Rivals" on Disney+ brought dashing and caddish hero Rupert Campbell-Black -- said to be partly based on Queen Camilla's former husband Andrew Parker Bowles -- to a new audience.

Blunt said in her statement that Cooper had written with "acuity and insight about all things -- class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility".

"You wouldn't expect books categorised as bonkbusters to have so emphatically stood the test of time," she added.

(K.Lee--TAG)