Jilly Cooper Biography

Jilly Sallitt’s father worked in the War Office during World War II and, later, in an engineering firm. She was educated at the private Godolphin School, in Salisbury.

The young Jilly worked in a number of secretarial jobs, before moving to London and beginning her long career in journalism. In 1957, she became a junior reporter for The Middlesex Independent, after failing to break into Fleet Street.

She married her childhood sweetheart, Leo Cooper, a publisher of military history books, whom she had first met at the age of eight.

When she met the editor of The Sunday Times Magazine at a dinner party, he found her tales of married life entertaining, and commissioned her to write a piece which led to a regular column. Jilly wrote about subjects such as sex, marriage and housework.

In 1975, Jilly published her first work of romantic fiction, 'Emily', which was followed by 'Bella', and 'Harriet' the following year, and a sequence of similarly themed novels. In 1985, she wrote 'Riders', one of her most successful works and, like many of her novels, an international bestseller.

Cooper’s work is characterised by frequent sex scenes, and lavish upper-class countryside settings. Her novels are often described as 'bonk-busters' although this irritates her. She has also written many non-fiction books, often on self-help topics, such as 'How to Stay Married'.

Jilly and Leo have two adopted children, Emily and Felix. The now very wealthy Cooper lives with her husband in the Cotswolds countryside. She still writes her novels on a manual typewriter, which she calls Monica.