What a joy - having read many of Jilly's novels previously this book exploring her personal life, challenges and experiences of womanhood was such a delight. What an insight to the female experience and acknowledgment of the progress of feminism to date.

A nostalgic delight! I grew up reading Jilly Cooper and remember her columns from my parents’ copy of the Sunday Times.

I was lovely to revisit them and be amazed how the world has moved on! Monthly off licence and mini cab bills, endless dinner parties (always 3 courses) and having a daily - it was a different era. Jilly’s style developed as she matured as a writer, from the rather stilted early columns to the confident, double-entendre strewn later ones. They are a love letter to her family, animals and home in Putney.

It’s a quick and highly enjoyable read, fun for any Jilly Cooper fan.

Oh, how I just adore Jilly. She is the timeless balm we all need in our lives, and she never fails to me giggle - and then, sometimes - unexpectedly catch me off guard with a sentence that's just so true it makes me stop and think for a moment. Five stars for this book!

Collections of an authors writings are right up my street and as Jilly Cooper is one of my (guilty) reading pleasures a chance to read essays and articles spanning her whole career was great.
A volume to dip in and out of rather than reading cover to cover but a great look at how culture has changed over the pas few decades here in the UK

A fascinating read, I love Jilly’s books and have re read them all many times over. It was fun to read these snippets from her own life.

The next book on my NetGalley mission was BETWEEN THE COVERS: Jilly Cooper on sex, socialising and survival.



Now I must admit I have never read a Jilly Cooper book but I thought this one sounded interesting. In fact it was not a “story” but instead snippets of her favourite columns from her years as a newspaper columnist. I actually enjoyed this premise as the chapters were quick and changing and whilst I may not have enjoyed every one, they were over quickly if not. Before reading I could have written what I knew about Jilly on a postage stamp! I knew she wrote racy romance novels and was maybe a horsey posh lady!!! Well I was close! I found myself struggling to relate to Jilly on most things. Whilst she continually mentions having financial troubles and living in very un-posh lodgings it is blatantly obvious that Mrs Cooper comes from a very privileged background; old money I would call it!



That said I did find most of her stories funny, if a little dated. As I said I couldn’t really relate to a lot of it and I do think that this book is aimed at women of an older age than myself. I think fans of Jilly would really enjoy this book and would really be able to laugh a long to most of her stories. My favourite quote was “I’m an imperfect reader – I can get through a whole novel in an evening and not remember a character from it two days later”!! I’m glad its not just me – I even had to go back onto my Kindle to check the name of the book and I only finished it a couple of hours ago!!

My thanks to Netgalley and Random House for a copy of “ Between The Covers” for a honest review.

I felt quite nostalgic reading this book. when I first started working in libraries Jilly Cooper was one of my favourite authors, with books like Bella and Octavia etc.being read several times over.
Personal stories of her family life were told with humour and it felt like an old friend chatting to you.
A definite recommendation for a light hearted read.

This is a lovely quick read that made me laugh. It a collection of Jilly Cooper’s columns in the Sunday Times from the 60s and 70s and, while a lot has changed since then, the overarching themes of life and love still resonate.

I really enjoyed it.

4 stars

It was lovely to read some Jilly Cooper even if these are articles are from the past. It reminded me how much I liked stories such as Imogen and Harriet. Jilly talks very openly about her emotions and her life and now with her we are looking back on her and our own histories. I think it will introduce a new audience to her work and hopefully open up her back catalog!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Jilly Cooper is someone I would love to have at my dinner party. These columns show someone who is so much fun and who comes from a completely different world from me. It is fascinating to get such an honest glimpse at her chaotic and loving life. The roles in her household seem quite traditional by today's standards and yet they seemed to make it work well for them. Loads of fun.

I have never read anything by Jilly Cooper before, but am familiar with her personality and humour from tv interviews and appearances.

This book was a snapshot into Jilly’s personal life. The love, the laughs, the breaks and the cringey moments.

I loved the layout of the book - it was broken down into easy to read chapters that were succinct and very engaging.

It was apparent reading this that Jilly’s life is so far removed from my own (location, career, social circle, etc) However, I loved the fact that she is perfectly human and has made the mistakes we’ve all made. It was endearing.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review 📚

I found this book a little inspirational, as it made me realise that more and more people around us are just winging adulthood. No one just knows what they are doing, it’s all about trial and error.

I always used to love jillys books particularly riders and rivals so was keen to read between the bedcovers!
A funny laugh out loud read that you can race through, so entertaining to hear about jillys young adult life as she navigates her way trying to be a mum wife lover writer etc etc! So many humerous anecdotes from family life,dinner parties,friendships and work and really interesting to read about London life in her youth!
Thank you net galley for this early read.

I adore Jilly Cooper, her wit is second to none.
Between the Covers tells of Jilly's marriage and her friendships, her navigation through society and her general disasters in life.
When reading Jilly's writing it's almost as if you are in the room with her and you are curled up on the sofa and she is regaling you with another dinner party horror.

Literally a laugh out loud book from beginning to end I thoroughly enjoyed it.