Jilly Cooper's literary agent and Rivals executive producer Felicity Blunt has revealed that a posthumous publication by the author could soon be released. Speaking to The Independent, Blunt said she had been doing 'detective work' to piece together Dame Cooper's final draft.
'That would be my ambition for her because to have another piece of her work would be a really beautiful thing and a wonderful surprise,' Blunt said of the newly uncovered tale. The Rutshire Chronicles author died aged 88 in October last year, mid-way through shooting the second season of Rivals.
Blunt recalled Cooper's dedication to the project in her final months: 'Up until the day she died, she was working, she would work really late into the night, she'd review scripts, she was writing a short story… but she was very much the centre of a party, and only because she wanted to be entertaining everybody around her.'
Cooper, best known for her steamy fiction focusing on scandal and adultery in upper-class society, died from a fatal head injury sustained during a fall at her Gloucestershire home. Following her death, showrunner Dominic Treadwell-Collins and producer Alex Lamb paid tribute, saying: 'Jilly was and always will be one of the world's greatest storytellers.'
The second season of Rivals, which depicts a power struggle between two television companies in the Cotswolds, has been praised by critics. The Independent's Nick Hilton gave it four stars, noting: 'There is a sense, across the cast, that everyone is enjoying themselves immensely.'
