- Paperback: 576 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Press; First Edition edition (4 May 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0593046986
- ISBN-13: 978-0593046982
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 14.5 x 4.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,590,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Jilly Cooper readers can always count on her to deliver the goods in her larger-than-life novels: a host of colourfully drawn characters, outrageous situations (always kept just the right side of plausible), compulsive plotting and (of course) a healthy dose of unbuttoned eroticism. Pandora has all the Cooper fingerprints and is the kind of shameless wallow that the lively Ms Cooper always unfailingly provides.
Raymond Belvedon is a young subaltern in 1944, advancing with the troops across Normandy, when he encounters a burning château. Recently occupied by a Nazi commander, the château is now deserted, and on the wall Raymond sees a small painting of Pandora unleashing the seven deadly sins from her famous box. Thinking he's found a Raphael, Raymond takes it from the frame and escapes. Four decades pass and Raymond has now established himself as a top art dealer with his own prestigious gallery in Mayfair. The picture of Pandora is the pride of his impressive Cotswold home where his six children were born. But he has a surprise in store: another grown child makes an appearance with her seductive boyfriend, Zac. The latter has designs on Raymond's Raphael. Under cover of a firework party, the Raphael goes missing.
Cooper's breathless narrative whisks the reader from London to Vienna, Geneva, Paris and New York in the hunt for the missing painting, building towards a sharply handled court case and a tense sale at Sotheby's. Cooper's territory here is the international art world, which has all the pre-requisite angles for Cooper-style drama, with its duplicitous dealers, avaricious artists and casual morality. There are some strong new protagonists here, such as the selfish artist Sienna, and Cooper also includes some familiar characters (including her trademark beguiling animals). Raymond, too, is one of her most richly drawn creations. Cooper fans need not hesitate. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Sunday Times
‘Triumphantly good’
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
75 of 77 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have always had a soft spot for Jilly Cooper but recently felt that she had lost her way a bit. Where the early books are great fun and her first three blockbusters (Riders, Rivals and Polo) make up a wildly entertaining trilogy, her last three (The Man who made Husbands Jealous, Appassionata and Score) seemed to be over-crowded with no real sense of the characters. Of course I still read them but crucially unlike the first three I didn't re-read them whenever I felt like a pick-me-up. Thankfully Pandora is a magnificent return to form. The character list is smaller than more recent books which helps and the early part of the novel which is set in the 60s and 70s pays dividends by building up a real sense of character. While some might quibble that there is no love story as strong as that in Rivals I think all three of the main love stories stand out and the theme of Pandora's Box is well worked out. By moving away from Rutminster Jilly has given her fans a return to the strong characters of her first novels (Sienna, Alazarin, Raymond and the awful David Pullborough particularly stood out for me) while some old favourites are given a new lease of life - it was great to see Rupert Campbell Black pre-Riders and behaving as badly as expected. Less happy at times then some of her other books - the early scenes of Raymond and Galena's marriage are especially well done as is Zac's need for belonging and Alazarin's desperate pride and refusal to confront his childhood's end. All in all this is everything you expect from a Jilly Cooper novel (bad puns and occasionally awful viewpoints included) and yet more - I'll certainly be re-reading it.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In the days of Riders and Rivals, I would devour a Jilly Cooper book in a weekend. I've had Pandora for three weeks and I am just getting to the end. Far, far better than "Score," but still not Jilly at her best. By the time it got to the court case I couldn't have cared less who had the right to the Raphael, and I actually skipped the long tales about what actually happened to it. Brilliant to catch glimpses of Rupert Campbell-Black, and I loved a lot of the new characters, like Sophy. I'm getting a bit bored with the fact that all of Cooper's heroines (except Taggie) are out and out bitches "because they're always vile when they feel insecure." I like to feel that sometimes the nice women get the men! Having said all the above, Jilly Cooper when not quite on form is still better than many writers at their best.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I used to enjoy Jilly Cooper's doorstep-sized romances but felt that she'd lost the way with her last two books: "Apassionata" lacked memorable characters, and "Score" had an interesting idea, but would have been unreadable to anyone who didn't know the back story. This time an extended prologue sets up the history of a new set of characters so that I feel this book could be read as a self-contained novel, although characters from the other books are worked into the story, for the most part very successfully. As one of the few readers who are not a fan of rich and overbearing Rupert Campbell-Black, I was pleasantly surprised that the author managed to give him his customary appearance without allowing him to take over.
This book works well as a sprawling family saga and the father figure, Raymond, is a nice mixture of characteristics, in fact probably the most likeable character in the book. In many ways a perfect gentleman, he has however committed one morally dubious act which is the starting point for the whole story, but I don't think you could fail to sympathise with him. His lifelong rivalry with his employee (and later business rival) David is one of the unifying themes, but just how far has David affected the family?
Because the fate of a valuable painting is the nominal theme of the book, no one romantic storyline takes precedence, but there are several couples who clearly need to find each other, and all of these strands reach satisfying conclusions by means of some clever, if sometimes rather obvious, twists. My favourite pairing involves a splendidly dishevelled and romantic man (but why did he have to have such a ridiculous name?) and a refreshingly "normal" woman. There's hope for us yet!
I suppose the most disappointing thing for me was that DI Gablecross, a pleasant enough character in "Score", was seriously under-used here; if the police were going to be this faceless, why not introduce a new detective we're not already fond of? Otherwise, this is a very fine example of its genre.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Complete trash!
I read this book on holiday when I unwisely finished both my books on the second day and had to resort to the holiday home bookshelf which contained a selection of bestsellers. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Rob Monster
Dull, tiresome, and over long.
Jilly Cooper used to write entertaining chunks of chick-lit with a fairly large element of naughtiness; I fear she's visited the well a little too often and is now just typing... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ms. Fiona Allen
Silly holiday book
A perfect book to take on a beach holiday. Silly, irrelevant, funny and everything you would expect from a Jilly Cooper novel. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Niknboo
Pandora
Cooper loses her way with this one. There is plenty of plot and incident but the characters are far too one-dimensional to garner enough sympathy from the reader. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2010 by Rich
Steamy!
This is a marvellous work of erotica, with no shortage of romantic gratification. I won't give away the details of the intricate story line, but you can rest assured that Pandora... Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2007 by Wayne Redhart
Lose yourself in Jilly
I've grown up with Jilly throughout her "Rupert" novels - Riders being my favourite (read it aged 13, probably too young really), and Pandora is almost as good. Read more
Published on 15 May 2007 by E. Whitaker
Open Pandora's box and indulge
What is particularly fantastic about this book, is the creation of brilliant characters. These characters are so entising and addictive, you won't be able to give them up. Read more
Published on 14 July 2005 by "charlotte_paton"
a welcome return to form!
I was surprised indeed to read that some people thought this book was weak. More surprised still at the people who thought it worse than Score! Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2005 by K. Morrison
Average
I adore Jilly Cooper's books and i couldn't wait to read this one, only to be hugely disappointed. The story didn't really pull me in and i was halfway through before irealised i... Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2004 by bex
pandora... jilly makes this a wonder you would have to open.
Firtsly i assumed this would be another hyped best seller that would be ok to read as a holiday book or an occassional glance...BUT..how wrong i was!! Read more
Published on 12 July 2004 by Caro
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