About the Book
No picture ever came more beautiful than Raphael's Pandora. Discovered by a dashing young lieutenant, Raymond Kelvedon in a Normandy Chateau in 1944, she had cast her spell over his family - all artists and dealers - for fifty years. Hanging in a turret of their lovely Cotswold house, Pandora witnessed Raymond's tempestuous wife Galena both entertaining a string of lovers, and giving birth to her four children: Jupiter, Alizarin, Jonathan and superbrat Sienna. Then an exquisite stranger rolls up, claiming to be a long-lost daughter of the family, setting the three Belvedon brothers at each other's throats. Accompanying her is her fatally glamorous boyfriend, whose very different agenda includes an unhealthy interest in the Raphael.
During a fireworks party, the painting is stolen. The hunt to retrieve it takes the reader on a thrilling journey to Vienna, Geneva, Paris, New York and London. After a nail-biting court case and a record-smashing Old Masters sale at Sotheby's, passionate love triumphs and Pandora is restored to her rightful home.
Jilly Cooper
PANDORA
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Epub ISBN: 9781409032212
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PANDORA
A CORGI BOOK : 9780552156400
First published in Great Britain
in 2002 by Bantam Press
a division of Transworld Publishers
Corgi edition published 2003
Corgi edition reissued 2007
Copyright © Jilly Cooper 2002
Jilly Cooper has asserted her right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author
of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of
historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, is purely coincidental.
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is available from the British Library
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Table of Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title
Copyright
About the Author
Also by Jilly Cooper
Dedication
Map
The Legend of Pandora’s Box
Cast of Characters
The Animals
Prologue
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Part 2
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Jilly Cooper is a journalist, writer and media superstar. The author of many number one bestselling novels, she lives in Gloucestershire with her husband Leo, her rescue greyhound Feather and her black cat Feral.
She was appointed OBE in 2004 for services to literature, and in 2009 was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Gloucestershire for her contribution to literature and services to the County.
Find out more about Jilly Cooper at her website www.jillycooper.co.uk
By Jilly Cooper
FICTION
RIDERS
RIVALS
POLO
THE MAN WHO MADE HUSBANDS JEALOUS
APPASSIONATA
SCORE!
PANDORA
WICKED!
JUMP!
NON-FICTION
ANIMALS IN WAR
CLASS
HOW TO SURVIVE CHRISTMAS
HOTFOOT TO ZABRISKIE POINT (with Patrick Lichfield)
INTELLIGENT AND LOYAL
JOLLY MARSUPIAL
JOLLY SUPER
JOLLY SUPERLATIVE
JOLLY SUPER TOO
SUPER COOPER
SUPER JILLY
SUPER MEN AND SUPER WOMEN
THE COMMON YEARS
TURN RIGHT AT THE SPOTTED DOG
WORK AND WEDLOCK
ANGELS RUSH IN
ARAMINTA’S WEDDING
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
LITTLE MABEL
LITTLE MABEL’S GREAT ESCAPE
LITTLE MABEL SAVES THE DAY
LITTLE MABEL WINS
ROMANCE
BELLA
EMILY
HARRIET
IMOGEN
LISA & CO
OCTAVIA
PRUDENCE
ANTHOLOGIES
THE BRITISH IN LOVE
VIOLETS AND VINEGAR
&nbs
p; To Mark Barty-King, a hero in every way,
with huge love and gratitude
THE LEGEND OF
PANDORA’S BOX
There are many variations on the legend of Pandora but I have used the one that begins with a heroic mortal called Prometheus boldly storming Mount Olympus, the home of the Gods. As if on an SAS mission, he stole fire, which had hitherto been the preserve of the Gods. This audacity outraged Jupiter, their King, not least because he feared that mortals might now have a means of overthrowing him.
As retribution, he therefore instructed his Gods and Goddesses to create the most beautiful mortal ever seen: a woman called Pandora, which means ‘all-gifted’. Jupiter then ordered his messenger, Mercury, to deliver this exquisite creature to the door of Prometheus’s brother, Epimetheus. A susceptible young man, Epimetheus ignored his brother’s warning not to accept any presents from the Gods and promptly asked the lovely Pandora to marry him. His only condition was that she should never open the oak chest in the corner of the room.
The newly married Pandora, however, was overwhelmed with curiosity, and one day when Epimetheus was out hunting she yielded to temptation and opened the chest. Immediately all the evils and diseases of the world, which had been trapped inside, flew out. After viciously stinging Pandora and a returning Epimetheus, they flew off, contaminating the earth with a biological storm and bringing dreadful pain and misfortune to the human race.
Pandora and Epimetheus were still weeping and writhing in agony when they heard tapping on the inside of the oak chest and out stepped a radiant, angelically smiling fairy.
‘My name is Hope,’ she told them, ‘and I have come to bring comfort and to relieve the suffering of you and all mankind.’
CAST OF CHARACTERS
GENERAL ALDRIDGE Lord-Lieutenant of Larkshire – so boring he’s known locally as ‘General Anaesthetic’.
COLIN CASEY ANDREWS England’s greatest painter, according to Casey Andrews. A Belvedon Gallery artist with exalted ideas of his own genius and sexual prowess. Long-term lover of Galena Borochova.
ZACHARY ANSTEIG Zac the Wanderer. An American journalist of Austro-Jewish extraction, whose tigerish beauty and air of suppressed violence in no way conjure up cheery images of The Sound of Music.
NEVILLE BAINES Vicar of St James, Limesbridge, predictably known as ‘Neville-on-Sundays’.
JEAN BAINES His very tiresome, ecologically correct wife, known as ‘Green Jean’.
RAYMOND BELVEDON An extremely successful art-dealer, owner of the Belvedon Gallery in Cork Street.
JUPITER BELVEDON Raymond’s machiavellian eldest son, who, after Cambridge, joins him in the gallery.
HANNA BELVEDON Jupiter’s blonde Junoesque wife, a very gifted painter of flowers.
ALIZARIN BELVEDON Raymond’s second son, a genius tormented by a social conscience. Produces vast tortured canvasses no-one wants to buy.
JONATHAN BELVEDON Raymond’s colossally glamorous younger son. A genius as yet unhampered by any conscience at all.
SIENNA BELVEDON Raymond’s elder daughter. A truculent, talented wild child.
DICKY BELVEDON Raymond’s youngest son – an artful dodger.
DORA BELVEDON Raymond’s younger daughter and Dicky’s horse-mad twin sister.
JOAN BIDEFORD A Belvedon Gallery artist and splendid bruiser with a fondness for her own sex. Unenthusiastically married to Colin Casey Andrews.
MICKY BLAKE The Curator of the Commotion Exhibition at the Greychurch Museum in New York.
GALENA BOROCHOVA An inspired and extremely volatile Czech painter with a fondness for sex.
SAMPSON BRUNNING A brilliant QC, famous for keeping the Belvedon family out of gaol.
RUPERT CAMPBELL-BLACK Enfant terrible of British showjumping, as beautiful as he is bloody-minded, later leading owner-trainer who dabbles idly in paintings.
TAGGIE CAMPBELL-BLACK His adored second wife – an angel.
ADRIAN CAMPBELL-BLACK Rupert’s younger brother – a cool and successful gallery owner in New York.
XAVIER CAMPBELL-BLACK Rupert and Taggie’s adopted Colombian son.
COLONEL IAN CARTWRIGHT Former commanding officer of a tank regiment, managing director of a small but very profitable engineering company in West Yorkshire.
PATIENCE CARTWRIGHT His loyal wife – a trooper.
EMERALD CARTWRIGHT Their elder adopted daughter, a sculptor as ravishingly pretty as she is hopelessly overindulged.
SOPHY CARTWRIGHT Patience and Ian’s younger adopted daughter, a teacher of splendid proportions and great charm.
NAOMI COHEN Zachary Ansteig’s lawyer, as ambitious as she is bright and beautiful.
KEVIN COLEY A perfectly awful petfood billionaire, Chairman Doggie Dins. A collector of art as an investment and sponsor of the British Portrait Awards.
ENID COLEY His overweight, overbearing wife.
EDDIE Raymond Belvedon’s packer.
MR JUSTICE CARADOC
WILLOUGHBY EVANS
A high court judge.
FIONA Raymond Belvedon’s gallery assistant, a glamorous well-bred half-wit.
DETECTIVE INSPECTOR
GABLECROSS
A super sleuth.
SI GREENBRIDGE A mega-rich American arms-dealer and a serious collector of pictures.
GINNY GREENBRIDGE Si’s trophy wife, a former Miss New Jersey.
LILY HAMILTON Raymond Belvedon’s older sister.
DAME HERMIONE
HAREFIELD
World-famous diva, seriously tiresome, brings out the Crippen in all.
HARRIET A radiant henna-haired reporter from Oo-ah! magazine.
ABDUL KARAMAGI An amorous Saudi with a penchant for saucy pictures.
KEITHIE Somerford Keynes’s boyfriend, an exquisite piece of rough trade and sometime burglar.
SOMERFORD KEYNES A malevolent gay art critic, known as the ‘Poisoned Pansy’.
ESTHER KNIGHT Raymond Belvedon’s comely cleaner.
MINSKY KRASKOV An unnerving Russian Mafia hood, who uses art as collateral to raise money for dodgy deals.
JEAN-JACQUES LE BRUN A very great French painter.
NATACHA A glamorous member of Sotheby’s Client Advisory Department.
SIR MERVYN NEWTON A rather self-regarding dry-cleaning millionaire.
LADY NEWTON His grander wife, given to gardening and Pekineses.
ROSEMARY NEWTON Their daughter – an absolute brick.
PASCAL An American interior designer.
PATTI Another glamorous member of Sotheby’s Client Advisory Department.
GERALDINE PAXTON A networking nympho, a mover and shaker in the art world.
PEREGRINE Sampson Brunning’s junior.
GORDON PRITCHARD A very exalted specialist.
CHRIS PROUDLOVE The genial, indefatigable press officer at Sotheby’s.
DAVID PULBOROUGH A Cambridge undergraduate employed to coach the Belvedon children in the vac. Later a highly successful art-dealer with his own gallery, the Pulborough.
BARNEY PULBOROUGH David’s son – a seriously dodgy slug in a Savile Row suit.
ROBENS Raymond Belvedon’s gardener/chauffeur whose wandering eye is overlooked because of his green fingers.
MRS ROBENS His long-suffering wife. Raymond Belvedon’s cook and housekeeper – a treasure.
ANTHEA ROOKHOPE A very tempting temp, who becomes permanent at the Belvedon Gallery in all senses of the word.
TAMZIN Raymond’s gallery assistant in 1999 – the ‘Dimbo’.
TRAFFORD Jonathan Belvedon’s unspeakably scrofulous best friend and painter-in-crime. A Young British Artist.
SLANEY WATTS A glamorous New Yorker and PRO of the Greychurch Museum.
HENRY WYNDHAM The charismatic Chairman of Sotheby’s.
ZELDA An American art student.
ZOE David Pulborough’s subtly understated assistant.
THE ANIMALS
BADGER Rupert Campbell-Black’s black Labrador
THE BRIGADIER Lily Hamilton’
s white cat
CHOIRBOY Trafford’s Newfoundland puppy as intent on destruction as his master.
DIGGORY Jonathan Belvedon’s sharp-toothed Jack Russell.
GRENVILLE Raymond Belvedon’s brindle greyhound.
LOOFAH Dora Belvedon’s delinquent skewbald pony.
MAUD Raymond Belvedon’s blue greyhound.
SHADRACH, MESHACH AND ABEDNEGO Rosemary Pulborough’s marmalade cats
SHRIMPY Galena Borochova’s Jack Russell
VISITOR Alizarin Belvedon’s yellow Labrador, great-great-grandson of Rupert Campbell-Black’s Badger. Socialite and ballroom dancer.
PROLOGUE
In the early hours of 24 August 1944, Raymond Belvedon, a recently commissioned young subaltern in the Larkshire Light Infantry, waited in a poplar copse for first light, when he was to lead an attack on the village of Bonfleuve, which lay below. His platoon, who had been fiercely fighting their way through Normandy since D-Day and who had had little sleep for three days, dozed fitfully around him.
Raymond was too tense to sleep and, with a torch, was reading Tennyson in a lichen-green leather-bound volume given him by his older brother, Viridian, for his twentieth birthday back in May. The volume, which he kept in the breast pocket of his battledress, had saved his life a few days before, when it had deflected a sniper’s bullet headed for his heart.
In the flyleaf, Raymond had stuck a photograph of his family. His mother, father and elder sister, Lily, a beautiful, much-sought-after Wren, were grouped round Viridian, always the centre of attention, and here laughing on a garden bench with Hereward, the wire-haired terrier, bristling on his knee.
In the background rose Foxes Court, the glorious golden-stoned family home in Larkshire, reminding Raymond of the pat of tennis balls, chocolate cake under the walnut tree, Beethoven drifting out of the study window, his father grumbling to visitors that the garden had gone over, his mother sending him inside to fetch her a cardigan because the evenings were drawing in – all those clichés of country-house life, which seem so precious in wartime.
And the starry nights were so quiet in Larkshire. By contrast, here, as though time had stopped on 5 November, a monstrous everlasting firework party crashed, banged, thundered, roared and exploded all around him, with flashing and flickerings constantly lighting the sky until his brain seemed to crumple like a kicked-in compo tin.