Polo (novel)

Polo follows the lives of characters in the fictional county of Rutshire, centred on the life of polo player Ricky France-Lynch. He kills his son in a car accident, which also injured him. Jailed, France-Lynch becomes friends with a rockstar, Dancer Maitland, and they join forces once released from prison for Maitland to sponsor France-Lynch and a polo team. In parallel, France-Lynch's former wife, Chessie France-Lynch, married his enemy Bart Alderton and moved to America. Alderton, like France-Lynch, is obsessed with polo, and their enmity continues as they meet in matches around the world. Meanwhile, one of the cottages on France-Lynch's estate is rented to Daisy MacLeod and her daughter Perdita. MacLeod's husband has recently divorced her, and she is struggling to keep her independence. Perdita, who is Daisy's illegitimate daughter, does not know who her father is; she is very difficult, but loves horses and polo. Perdita has a crush on France-Lynch and ends up working in his polo yard, and playing on his and Dancer's team. Polo takes her to Argentina, and to the United States, where he gets together with Alderton's son, Red; despite this, his other son, Luke, falls in love with Perdita. The novel takes place across continents, and its highest drama is at the polo matches, where the Alderton and France-Lynch teams vie to beat each other. The finale of the novel takes in California, with France-Lynch triumphant. He marries Daisy MacLeod at the end of the novel, after it is revealed that Perdita's long-lost father is Rupert Campbell-Black. == Background ==

Published in 1991, Polo is the third book in Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles series. Cooper began writing the book in April 1989. She researched the book by travelling to Palm Beach and to Argentina, meeting polo players there. Early potential titles for the book were Rampant, Cooper's suggestion, or Winners, an option her publishers considered more dignified. The novel is 766 pages long. == Style ==

Cooper's novels are often referred to as "bonkbusters", == Reception ==

The novel went to number 1 in the UK hardback bestseller list, on its first entry. It was also number 1 in the paperback bestseller list in May 1992. The film rights to the book were sold before it was published in paperback. After publication, according to The Scotsman, some readers complained that, in comparison to Riders, Polo did not have enough sex and the characters "spent too much time in the horse box". This was repeated in a 2012 review in The Guardian. The Scunthorpe Star described it as a "frothy brew of sex, class and jodhpurs". In 1997 the Dundee Evening News described how Cooper's novel "brought the posh sport to the attention of millions". Writing in the Evening Standard, Kate Saunders described the novel as "all right, it won't make the Booker shortlist. But within its genre it is a work of towering genius". == Legacy ==

According to the Aberdeen Evening Post, one result of the success of the novel for the sport was an increase in people attending polo matches. There is also a cliché about young women at some British boarding schools sharing copies of the novel to learn about sex. Former British prime minister Rishi Sunak claimed in May 2023 that Polo, along with other Cooper novels, were his favourite books. == Adaptations ==

The book was due to be adapted as a TV mini series by Anglia in 1993. The audiobook was narrated by Sherry Baines and released in 2018. In 2025, Georgia Tennant recorded a second version. == Analysis ==

Polo has been the subject of a study by academic Gail Cunningham on how horses are used as a driving force in Cooper's work. Cunningham drew parallels between Perdita Macleod's storyline and her final denouement, which could have "come straight from the pages of a twelve-year-old’s pony romance". == References ==