Rivals

Lord Baddingham needs to hold on to his Corinium Television franchise, so he lures Declan O'Hara, the Irish talk show star, to Rutshire and pairs him with Cameron Cook, a brash and beautiful American producer. The two loathe each other on sight. Then a rival group starts bidding for the franchise, and Rupert Campbell-Black, the most gloriously unrepentant rake in English fiction, strolls into the middle of it all.

The second of Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles, now a series on Disney+, serves up 1980s excess at its most delicious: boardroom plotting, affairs, broken marriages and love that arrives where it is least convenient. Cooper writes social comedy with real warmth and a sharp eye for snobbery and ambition. A long, rich, very funny novel for anyone who likes their romance with champagne and a good deal of mischief.