Jolly Marsupial

Jilly Cooper's latest collection of occasional pieces originally published in The Sunday Times and The Mail On Sunday begins with a funny and irreverent account of a visit to Australia. '."That's the toff area" explained Elsa. For a moment I thought she'd said "tough area", but actually the two adjectives are often synonymous in Australia, which boasts a very high population of upper middle-class criminals..' The other scenes nearer home, reviewed with equal disrespect include the diverse world's of a vet's conference, fashionable charity balls, the London to Brighton run and Hen Night in Wandsworth.And, as always, Jilly Cooper is a devastating, hilarious and sometimes moving chronicler of the minutiae of family life, with some fascinating sidelights and side-swipes at the middle-class educational ratrace along the way. The book includes two of the most provocative pieces she has written on the traumas of getting one's children into the 'right' school. One of the hallmarks of Jilly Cooper as a columnist has always been her ability to make her readers boil with rage and shout with laughter (occasionally at the same time). This new collection is a triumphant reaffirmation of her talent to infuriate and to amuse.