Score! - Hardcover

Cooper, Jilly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593042263 ISBN 13: 9780593042267

Publisher: Bantam Books, 1999

Synopsis

Sir Roberto Rannaldini, the most successful but detested conductor in the world, had two ambitions: to seduce his ravishing nineteen-year-old stepdaughter, Tabitha CampbellBlack, and to put his mark on musical history by making the definitive film of Verdi's darkest opera, Don Carlos.

To achieve the latter, he enlists the help of his charismatic French godson, Tristan de Montigny, the hottest director in Europe, who is capable of coaxing magical performances out of the most wayward and wooden prima donnas.

As Rannaldini, Tristan and the entire cast, headed by Rannaldini's capricious mistress, Hermione Harefield, demand total artistic control, the recording is stormy. But nothing compares to the ructions that occur when filming begins in Rannaldini's heavily haunted fourteenth-century abbey.

To disgruntled spooks, temperamental singers and histrionic set designers is added a glamorous but bolshy French film crew determined to pull everything in sight, particularly the tempestuous Tabitha, now employed as Mistress of the Horse.

All the women - and several of the men - are determined to pull Tristan. To their disappointment, he is interested only in keeping the movie on track. But as he battles to boost the morale Rannaldini is hell bent on destroying, Tristan finds himself increasingly drawn to Tabitha - which Rannaldini will not tolerate.

Then the news leaks out that Rannaldini is writing his memoirs, revealing dreadful secrets about everyone, and his fate is sealed.

But as Rutshire CID and the world's press pour in, doubts grow that Rannaldini is really dead. Or is it his ghost stalking the abbey cloisters in outrage that his arch-enemy, the tone-deaf Rupert Campbell-Black, has taken over as executive producer?

Terrifyingly creepy, by turns wildly funny and unashamedly romantic, Score! is Jilly Cooper's most thrilling novel to date. But it is also a story, like Don Carlos, about loneliness in high places, and heroism and passionate love triumphing against the odds.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Sir Roberto Rannaldini, the most successful but detested conductor in the world, had two ambitions: to seduce his ravishing nineteen-year-old stepdaughter, Tabitha Campbell-Black, and to put his mark on musical history by making the definitive film of Verdi's darkest opera, Don Carlos.

As Rannaldini, Tristan, his charismatic French director, a volatile cast and bolshy French crew gather at Rannaldini's haunted abbey for filming, it is inevitable that violent fewuds, abandoned bonking, temperamental screaming, and devious plotting will ensue. But although everyone wished Rannaldini dead, no one actually thought the Maestro would be murdered. Or that after the dreadful deed some very bizarre things would continue to occur.

SCORE! is Jilly Cooper's most thrilling novel to date.

From the Back Cover:

"Romance, glamour, seismic sex and delightful comedy...this book is a slice of heaven: pure, blissful escapism."--Kate Saunders, New Statesman

"Has all the usual Cooper ingredients, fantastically attractive male and female characters, lots of extra-marital affairs and dollops of good humour, but there is a difference in this novel as it is also a murder mystery."--Linda Roberts, Daily Mail

"I drew back in some alarm when told on its jacket that Score! was wildly funny, unashamedly romantic, terrifyingly creepy. I pressed bravely on nonetheless, and found with surprise that Score! is indeed all these things and even more"--John Bayley, The Spectator

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0593042263
• ISBN 13: 9780593042267
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 659