Rivals cover art

Rivals

Rutshire Chronicles, Book 2

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Rivals

By: Jilly Cooper
Narrated by: Georgia Tennant
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About this listen

A brand-new recording narrated by Georgia Tennant, star of Doctor Who: Dreamland and Staged.

Who will take the Cotswold Crown?

Into the cut-throat world of Corinium television comes Declan O'Hara, a mega-star of great glamour and integrity with a radiant feckless wife, a handsome son and two ravishing teenage daughters. Living rather too closely across the valley is Rupert Campbell-Black, divorced and as dissolute as ever, and now the Tory Minister for Sport.

Declan needs only a few days at Corinium to realize that the Managing Director, Lord Baddingham, is a crook who has recruited him merely to help retain the franchise for Corinium. Baddingham has also enticed Cameron Cook, a gorgeous but domineering woman executive, to produce Declan's program. Declan and Cameron detest each other, provoking a storm of controversy into which Rupert plunges with his usual abandon.

As a rival group emerges to pitch for the franchise, reputations ripen and decline, true love blossoms and burns, marriages are made and shattered, and sex raises its (delicious) head at almost every throw as, in bed and boardroom, the race is on to capture the Cotswold Crown.

'Jilly Cooper is the very best ... elegant, glamourous, wonderful fun' DAILY MAIL

'I couldn't put it down' SUNDAY EXPRESS

'A combination of drama, sex, and good social comedy ... unputdownable' THE SUNDAY TIMES

©1988 Jilly Cooper (P)2024 W. F. Howes Ltd
Contemporary Marriage
All stars
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I love her writing. Hilarious and in 2024 a little political incorrectness is cheeky and fun.

Cheeky

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Masterful scene writing and characters. And oh so many characters there were. Getting introduced to them all meant it took a while for the story to get going. But the wonderful narration kept me hooked and it wasn’t long before I got quite attached.

Perfect narrator

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Slow to start but dont give up a few chapters in it gets better! I devoured this in 2 days

Persevere

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So much fun to listen to! The narration was excellent and Cooper is incredibly witty.

Great narration of a bonkbuster classic

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I both enjoyed and disliked this book. On the positive side Georgia Tennant gives a masterful performance that perfectly fits this slick & shady world. All the interpersonal drama is very engaging & sometimes funny so I can see why this series has been popular for decades. BUT, seeing as this is being made into a TV series, I feel compelled to ask WHY? I am perfectly able to suspend disbelief and experience a piece of art as it was intended at the time. I know the values in this book adequately represent a certain milieu of white Brittish privilege in the 1980s. But in a 2024 world where cruelty causes so much pain, I don't see why this novel needs a reboot. With it's totally blazé and often even encouraging attitudes towards domestic violence, sexual harrassment, mysogny, racism, ableism, sexism...the list goes on. So many humans around the world are working so hard to overturn centuries of hate and abuse. Another televsion series about abusive white men and how life rewards them again and again is not helping the world. Still, if you're after a trashy bit of fun set to Georgia's dulcet tones, you'll find it here 👍

Great performance, outdated values

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.