Pandora - Softcover

"'She's irresistible...she frees you from the daily drudge and deposits you in an alternative universe where love, sex and laughter rule'" (Independent on Sunday)

"'The whole thing is a riot - vastly superior to anything else in a glossy cover'" (Daily Telegraph)

"'Triumphantly good'" (The Sunday Times)

"'A wonderful, romantic spectacular of a novel'" (Spectator)

"'Open the covers of Jilly Cooper's latest novel and you lift the lid of a Pandora's box. From the pages flies a host of delicious and deadly vices...Her sheer exuberance and energy are contagious'" (The Times)

Raymond Kelvedon had been a dashing subaltern in 1944 when he had come across the glorious painting by Raphael depicting Pandora releasing the seven deadly sins into the world. The painting ended up on the bedroom wall of his beautiful home, Foxes Court, in the peaceful county of Larkshire. His tempestuous wife, Galina, entertained her lovers there as well as giving birth to her four children beneath its watchful gaze, but after her tragic and mysterious death Raymond kept the painting hidden away in a tower room, its existence forgotten by most of those who ever knew about it.

Now Raymond is elderly and distinguished. He has his smart gallery in London, a new wife, Anthea, and adorable young twins. His grown-up children - three sons and one daughter - are all fighting their way into the art world. He has a long-standing rivalry with the smooth David Pulborough, once his protégé but now his deadly enemy. Then into all their lives erupts Emerald - lovely, talented, and desperately searching for her real parents. Zach Ansteig, a wildly attractive, mysterious American, encourages her to go to Foxes Court where, he persuades her, her birth mother will be found. The result is catastrophic, the Kelvedons outraged, the county agog. But Zach is also searching for something - the Raphael Pandora, which he believes should belong to him...