Product Description

A distillation of diaries compiled when the author lived beside Putney Common. They note the changing seasons and her encounters with dogs and their owners, and offer a portrait of life in a small community which combines the splendours of nature with gossip, illicit romances and jealousies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81798 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 319 pages

From the Publisher
Life, dogs, nature, and scurrilous gossip - all on the edge of Putney Common.

From the Back Cover
During the ten years she lived at the edge of Putney Common Jilly Cooper walked daily on this expanse of green. For most of the time she lived there she kept a diary, noting the effects of the changing seasons and writing about her encounters with dogs and humans. The book is a distillation of those diaries: an affectionate and enthralling portrait - warts and all - of life on Putney Common. Never has Jilly Cooper written more lyrically about flowers, trees, birds and the natural world; more tellingly about the sorrows - as well as the joys - of caring for dogs and children; or more outrageously about the gossip, illicit romances and jealousies of life in a small community.

About the Author
Jilly Cooper is a well-known journalist, writer and media superstar.The author of many number one bestselling novels, including Riders, Rivals, Polo, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, Appassionata, Score!,Pandora, and Wicked!, she and her husband live in Gloucestershire.
Jilly Cooper was appointed OBE in the 2004 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Customer Reviews

My favourite book!!
This is a book that I have read and read and read! I love it. I love reading about all the trials and tribulations of Jilly's life - Putney, her dogs, her family and her friends. It is a real feel-good book. She is funny, irreverent, chatty, a gossip, scatter-brained, and extremely observant, both of her surroundings, and people in general. She has a real love for her dogs, and I laughed and cried with her at their antics. I always feel with Jilly Cooper that she is the sort of person that you could go up to and really talk to, and having been lucky enough to meet both her and her charming husband Leo, I have to say that she is!! She is exactly how I had imagined she would be after reading this book. Utterly charming, and genuinely interested in talking to people. The Common Years is a book that I go back to again and again. It is not just a diary of events, it is far more personal than that. It is an insight into her life, but it is like reading a letter from an old friend, chatty and comforting. I love it, it really is my favourite.

Jilly Cooper finds solace in dogwalking in the park
This is a lyrical and humorous diary of Jilly Cooper's love of dogs, the outdoors and family.

Her discriptions of seasonal changes and people changes are touching and frequently hilarious. I particularly enjoyed catching glimpses of ideas or situations that feature in her later novels. It showcases her irreverant humor in a more personal way.

Like a roaring fire on a cold night, warm, cosy, friendly.
This is a totally enjoyable book which I have read
many times. It is funny, sad, happy, and uplifting
and guaranteed to make you smile. Jilly Cooper has
a wonderful knack of writing like a friend, and I
found myself immersed in her life, her
triumphs and tragedies,and her wonderful dogs. I
loved it, and will continue to read it often.