The Rutshire Chronicles is a series of romantic novels by Jilly Cooper. The stories tell tales of mainly British upper-class families, as well as the show-jumping and polo crowd, in numerous different sexually charged scenarios, often laced with adultery, illegitimate children, scandal, and sometimes, even death. They are linked by several recurring characters, chiefly Rupert Campbell-Black, and are set in the fictional English county of Rutshire.
Some of these characters, namely Campbell-Black and numerous characters associated with him, also occur in Cooper's novel Pandora, although it is not part of the series. The Campbell-Blacks, Lloyd-Foxes, France-Lynches, and other families from the Rutshire Chronicles also appear in Wicked! (2006). The tales are set in chronological order; however, they are readable as stand-alone novels.
In more recent years, her Rutshire Chronicles have come under fire for dated and problematic portrayals of race, homosexuality, gender roles and sexual consent.[1] [2] [3]
Cooper's recent works received a variety of responses from critics, with The Guardian praising "her near-magical ability to conjure up a world and populate it with people for whom you feel a deep affection"[4] and The Express calling Jump! "one of her most captivating novels yet."[5]