Harriet

Harriet

a story of love, heartbreak and humour set in the Yorkshire country from the inimitable multimillion-copy bestselling Jilly Cooper

Summary

The light-hearted, hilarious and gorgeous novel from the much-loved classic author.

Shy, dreamy, and incurably romantic, Harriet Poole was shattered when her brief affair with Simon Villiers, Oxford's leading playboy undergraduate, ended abruptly, leaving her penniless, alone and pregnant. Still hopelessly in love with Simon, she took baby William and buried herself in deepest Yorkshire as nanny to the children of Cory Erskine, a somewhat eccentric scriptwriter.

Local tongues were just beginning to wag when a whole host of visitors began to arrive to disrupt Harriet's peaceful routine: first Cory's estranged wife Noel, hellbent on winning Cory back, then Cory's glamorous brother Kit, whose old affair with Noel didn't stop him making passes at Harriet, and finally, of all people, Simon...

'The Jane Austen of our time' Harpers
'The funniest and sharpest writer there is' Jenny Colgan

Reviews

  • The Jane Austen of our time
    Harpers and Queen

About the author

Jilly Cooper

Jilly Cooper is a journalist, author and media superstar. The author of many number one bestselling books, she lives in Gloucestershire.

She has been awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of Gloucestershire and Anglia Ruskin, and won the inaugural Comedy Women in Print lifetime achievement award in 2019. She was also appointed DBE in 2024 for services to literature and charity.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more