Royal blood

NOTORIOUS, by Olivia Hayfield (Hachette, $34.99)

Published in 1985, UK author Jilly Cooper’s novel carved out a whole new category of blockbuster. Jackie Collins and Judith Krantz had given us plenty of raunch and dodgy rich people, but before Cooper no one had written big, racy, unashamedly popular, all would agree that she achieved a remarkable feat in making the traditionally chinless, horse-faced and badly dressed British nobs seem wildly attractive and sexy. Hoorah!