Octavia (novel)

Octavia – The Taming of the Shrew is a 1977 romance novel by English author Jilly Cooper. It is one of several works in her romance series. Octavia is an upper-class, spoilt woman, who meets Gareth on a narrowboat holiday. Initially they do not see eye-to-eye, but ultimately fall in love. Initial reviews were mixed, with Auberon Waugh describing it as "glib, facile, immature and superficial", but a new edition in 1993 sold 100,000 copies. In the 21st century, reviewers praised Octavia (the character) for being "fabulously flawed" and it was referenced in works by other authors. A 2007 adaptation of the novel was filmed starring Tamsin Egerton, but as of 2009 had not been released by ITV.

Octavia

Author	Jilly Cooper
Language	English
Genre	Romance
Set in	20th-century England
Published	1977 (Arlington Books)
Publication place	United Kingdom
Pages	272
Preceded by	Harriet
Followed by	Prudence
Website	https://www.jillycooper.co.uk/books/octavia/

Plot

The novel follows the social life of the eponymous heroine Octavia, who is an upper-class, wealthy, beautiful and spoilt woman, who also enjoys getting men to fall in love with her. She decides to seduce her friend Gussie's fiancé, Jeremy. Much of the novel takes place on a narrowboat holiday, where Octavia, Gussie and Jeremy are also joined by a fourth person, Welshman Gareth. Octavia and Gareth do not enjoy one another's company to begin with, but ultimately end up with romantic feelings for one another.

Background

Octavia is part of a series of romance novels written by Cooper in the 1970s.^[1] One character was modelled on George Humphreys, a Welshman with whom Cooper had an affair in the late 1950s.^[2] Cooper posed for the cover photograph of an early edition of the novel.^[1] The novel itself is set in the summer of 1976.^[3]

Reception

Published on 25 July 1977,^[4] the book's full title is Octavia – The Taming of the Shrew.^[5] Upon its release, Auberon Waugh reviewed the novel as "a glib, facile, immature and superficial romance" and expressed disappointment in the work since Waugh believed that Cooper could write a lot better.^[5] Elizabeth Grey from The Times noted that Cooper avoids the traditional romantic convention in which the heroine remains a virgin until the last page. Grey found the jokes annoying but still funny, and confessed to falling in love with the character of Octavia.^[6] Gareth, the romantic interest was described by the Manchester Evening News as "a gritty Welsh business tycoon" and the novel's predictable ending was remarked upon.^[7] The Guardian described the novel as "an incontinent little burble" but praised its word play.^[8] The brief review also mentioned the sub-plot where Octavia finds she can reach "a great whooshing" orgasm with the Welsh hero.^[8] On its paperback release in 1978, the Fife Free Press reviewed the book as an "easy-to-read romantic story" that would make a good holiday read.^[9] A 1993 edition of the novel sold over 100,000 copies.^[10] A 2006 edition, published (with the rest of the series) at the same time as Wicked!, sold 10,000 copies.^[10]

In 2018 Red magazine listed it as one of their Top Ten books by Cooper.^[11] The eponymous Octavia in the novel is a complex character and 21st-century reviewers praised Cooper for writing a heroine who was "feisty" and "fabulously flawed".^[12][13] The book features as a focus of one of the teenage diary entries in Mud by Emily Thomas, published in 2018.^[14] In 2023 Irish journalist Emily Hourican stated she'd choose Octavia and the other novels in Cooper's romance series as her specialist subject on Mastermind.^[15] In 2025's Read Yourself Happy, Daisy Buchanan described how she could empathise with Octavia's insecurities.^[16] Anna Bonet, writing in The i Paper in the same year, described it as an escapist novel and a 1970s romcom.^[13]

Adaptations

An adaptation of the novel was commissioned and filmed for ITV1 in 2007.^[17][18] However, it was not aired at its due date in 2008 due to financial issues at ITV, and as of February 2009 had no set date for release.^{[18][note 1]} The concept was to televise in hour-long episodes new adaptations of Cooper's romance series.^[10][19] With Octavia as the pilot, three further episodes based on other works from the series were due to be made.^[10] Starring Tamsin Egerton and adapted by Jonathan Harvey, it was produced by Touchpaper Television.^[3][18][20]

Literary influence

The purchase of this novel, and meeting its author at a book-signing, is the subject of a chapter in the novel Village Teacher by Jack Sheffield.^[21]

Notes

1. An email from Jilly Cooper's publisher in May 2025 confirmed that it had never been broadcast.