Riders

SUMMARY: From the queen of the British bestseller lists comes the classic hit every Englishwoman remembers with a sigh -- Riders, the steamy, scandalous tale of sexual and equestrian competition within the heroic world of international show jumping.Welcome to a world of cutthroat competition populated by fearless athletes, wealthy sponsors, and beautiful starlets and set against the glorious Cotswold countryside and the playgrounds of the world. Within this arena we meet the brooding gypsy Jake Lovell, under whose magic hands the most difficult horse or woman becomes biddable, who is driven by his hatred of Rupert Campbell-Black, the handsome and supremely confident star of the show ring. They steal each other's horses and love each other's women as they push themselves and their mounts to impossible extremes, until their feud erupts, with devastating consequences, at the Los Angeles Olympics. Set against the backdrop of the English Cotswolds countryside, Riders follows the fortunes of a group of fame and money hungry show jumping stars. Jake Lovell, the gypsy-born hero of the novel, is a brilliant horseman desperately seeking revenge for years of bullying at the hands of the glamorous, but brutish aristocrat, Rupert Campbell-Black. With the help of his rich debutante wife, Tory Maxwell, he is able to set himself up his own yard and begins building a reputation on the show jumping circuit. Meanwhile, Rupert is content living the jet set lifestyle with best friend Billy Lloyd-Foxe, plus a string of beautiful women, horses and dogs. Meeting his beautiful wife, Helen Macaulay, does little to curb his promiscuity and he eventually falls back into a life of parties, alcohol and casual sex. When Jake and Rupert meet again for the first time since school, old rivalries are sparked back to life as they fight it out to prove who is the greater horseman and perhaps more importantly, the greater lover. Along the way, Cooper gives us a peek into the lives of this close knit community of tops riders, their horses, grooms and families. We see the highs and lows of life in the equestrian world, but who will eventually come out on top in the final showdown at the Los Angeles Olympics, and will success ultimately lead to disaster for Jake? - from wikipedia From the queen of the British bestseller lists comes the classic hit every Englishwoman remembers with a sigh — Riders , the steamy, scandalous tale of sexual and equestrian competition within the heroic world of international show jumping. Welcome to a world of cutthroat competition populated by fearless athletes, wealthy sponsors, and beautiful starlets and set against the glorious Cotswold countryside and the playgrounds of the world. Within this arena we meet the brooding gypsy Jake Lovell, under whose magic hands the most difficult horse or woman becomes biddable, who is driven by his hatred of Rupert Campbell-Black, the handsome and supremely confident star of the show ring. They steal each other's horses and love each other's women as they push themselves and their mounts to impossible extremes, until their feud erupts, with devastating consequences, at the Los Angeles Olympics. Because he had to get up unusually early on Saturday, Jake Lovell kept waking up throughout the night, wracked by terrifying dreams about being late.