Dame Jilly Cooper’s racy personal diaries are set to cause a bidding war among top publishers.
The Rivals author, who died last week aged 88 after a fall, kept diaries for much of her life and had long warned friends – and even her children – that they were far saucier than her famous ‘bonkbuster’ novels.
Now publishers are pushing to get their hands on them, believing they will be an instant bestseller.
A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Enquiries from several publishers have already been made about her diaries.
‘They are said to be completely unflinching. There is giddy excitement among those in the industry at the prospect of them being published.’
‘Jilly was such a trailblazer and gained a whole new generation of fans since the release of Disney’s Rivals series.
‘There is going to be a huge bidding war for them and I wouldn’t be surprised if it reached seven figures.’
The novelist, who sold more than 11 million books in the UK alone, once said her journal was ‘so racy it probably ought to be burned’.
Dame Jilly Cooper’s racy personal diaries are set to cause a bidding war among top publishers
The Rivals author, who died last week aged 88 after a fall, kept diaries for much of her life and had long warned friends – and even her children – that they were far saucier than her famous ‘bonkbuster’ novels
It is understood that Dame Jilly’s children, Felix and Emily, would have to consent to publication, while her agents at Curtis Brown would oversee the auction for the rights.
Before her death, the writer revealed she had spoken to her children about the potential publication of her diaries.
She said: ‘I’ve kept a diary for years. The earlier diaries are very, very over the top – they are quite naughty. And I say to my children [about publishing them], ‘Darling, would you like to be rich and embarrassed or poor and safe?’ And they say, ‘Rich and embarrassed.’ ‘
Her long-standing publisher Transworld did once release extracts from her diaries, in a book entitled The Common Years.
Published in 1984, it was a distillation of her life living near Putney Common and explored her failures, financial struggles and neighbourhood conflicts. She often described it as her favourite book that she had written.
The full diaries could shed light on the origins of many of her fictional characters, including rumours such as Andrew Parker Bowles, the ex-husband of her longstanding friend Queen Camilla, being the inspiration for her Riders lothario Rupert Campbell-Black.
Opening the Cliveden Literary Festival yesterday, the Queen affectionately recalled an anecdote about Dame Jilly, saying: ‘She came to a party here a few years ago where she uttered her immortal line, ‘I’m going to get so absolutely plastered tonight, darling. I love you so much, I want to see two of you.’ ‘
After Dame Jilly’s death last week, the Queen said she hoped her friend’s ‘hereafter would be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs’.
