Jump!: Another joyful and dramatic romp from Jilly Cooper, the Sunday Times bestseller

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The name and the cover sounds pretty well, but when I started it off, all I felt was disappointment. I've given this review a bit of a harsh rating, but I just cannot get over how very disappointed I was from this latest offering to come out of the Cooper stable.

Surrounded by a vast cast of characters, the central story is that of a mare who gave Etta back her life. When Etta Bancroft's husband Sampson dies, her bolshy children move her to the tiny village of Willowwood. I will continue to love many of Jilly's back catalogue; sadly, though, this one will not be joining it. Though superficially very funny, its humour barely concealed the seriousness of its intentions, which can be encapsulated in the single sentence: "Mummy says pardon is a much worse word than fuck.Key characters keep drifting out of focus, and one death in particular does not carry quite the emotional weight it should. Not only am I enjoying the book itself, but the memories of my friend Miranda and I reading “Riders”, Rivals et al side by side on her parents’ lawn many years ago have come flooding back, and makes enjoying this new book all the more special. Etta never feels at the centre of the story as the other characters drown her out (and this is terribly maddening as I was looking forward to reading an protagonist who isn't the usual first-flush of youth type). As did the scene where the elderly Major snuck into a hotel room and took advantage of a very drunk actress, who mistakenly assumed in the dark that he was her partner. However, I find myself not minding this, since it is a commonly used story (I've read similar from other books by Jilly, to those written by Fiona Walker, right through to the Black Stallion novels by Walter Farley).

Jilly Cooper is not a subtle novellist--her plots are twisty, her characters larger than life--but she delivers page-turning, emotion-packed stories, perfect for a bit of self-indulgent reading when you really should be getting on with something else, but, oh, never mind. I won't not-recommend this novel, but if you're going to read it then all I'll say is prepare to be rather bored for a while. When it turns out that she is a very well-bred thoroughbred racehorse, Etta dreams of putting her into training, but without any money she hopes in vain. For someone who is usually immersed in some form of crime fiction, coming up for air to read about outlandish billionaires, arrogant horse trainers and laughing at their antics is just what's needed to recharge the batteries occasionally. you will meet rich, capricious owners, obsessive trainers, gallant stable lads and lasses and tough, brave jockeys; you will fall in love with the horses, and above all with Mrs Wilkinson herself – hilarious, heroic and gutsy, she will gallop into your heart forever.Etta and Mrs Wilkinson save each other, and the filly is a catalyst redeeming or condemning (each according to their worth) a whole cast of characters. I picked this one up for fun over Christmas and never have I laughed so much (except maybe at Lula in Janet Evanovichs Stephanie Plum series of books! Alas, the story is not as much of a colossus as Rupert Campbell-Black is said to be in his character description. When her bullying husband dies, Etta’s selfish, ambitious children drag her from her lovely Dorset house to live in a hideous modern bungalow in the Cotswold village of Willowwood.