Monday, July 9, 2012

From the Top Shelf - Octavia


Jilly Cooper is a UK journalist and the author of many bestselling novels. This excerpt from Octavia, written in the 1970s, was sent to me by one of my readers, who also provided the following introduction.

Octavia, an obnoxious 26-year-old spoiled society beauty, is handled by a Welshman Gareth who is having as weekend break with her in the country. They are at a "country set" party and she is slightly drunk. She describes herself thus:

Upstairs in the bathroom, I hardly recognized myself. I looked like some Maenad, my hair tousled, my eyes glittering, my cheeks flushed. God, the dress was so beautiful. It was a short tunic in silver chain mail - the holes as big as half crowns - high necked in front, it swooped to positive indecency at the back. Two very inadequate circles of silver sequins covered my breasts. I didn't wear anything underneath except a pair of flesh-coloured pants, which gave the impression I wasn't wearing anything at all.

"Will you stop behaving like a whore!" he swore at me and, pulling me into the nearest bedroom, threw me on the bed and locked the door.

"Now I suppose you're going to treat me like a whore," I spat at him. "What will your precious Lorna say if she catches us here together?"

Suddenly I was frightened. There was murder in his eyes.

"It's about time someone taught you a lesson" he said, coming towards me. "And I'm afraid it's going to be me."

Before I realised it, Gareth had me across his knee. I've never known what living daylights were before, but he was certainly beating them out of me now. I started to scream and kick.

"Shut up," he said viciously. "No one can hear you". The record player was still booming downstairs. I struggled and tried to bite him but he was far too strong for me. It was not so much the pain as the ghastly indignity. It seemed to go on for ever and ever. Finally he tipped me on to the floor. I lay there trembling with fear.

"Get up," he said brusquely, "and get your things together. I'm taking you back to the boat."

She is sick, so he puts her to bed. Later:

"I'm sorry," I said, rolling my head back and forth on the pillow "I'm so terribly sorry". In a flash I saw him as the father, strict, yet loving and caring, that all my life I'd missed; someone to say stop when I went too far, someone to mind if I behaved badly, to be proud if I behaved well.
The book was made into a TV movie in 2009. Has anyone seen it?


From Hermione's Heart

14 comments:

Fondles said...

nope ,but i'm going to look for it now...

here's a link to IMDB's page for the movie

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing the story.

Hug,
joey

Hermione said...

FA - Thanks for the link.

Joey - It was my pleasure.

Hugs,
Hermione

ronnie said...

I've read some of her books but not this one and haven't seen the movie so thanks for sharing Hermione.

Love,
Ronnie
xx

Ana said...

Hm! This is new to me as well.

Didi K. said...

i loved the part about not knowing what living daylights were, but they were definitely being beaten out of her. ;-)

Aimless Rambling said...

No, I haven't seen the movie. I will check it out at Amazon.

Thanks and have a great day.

Emen said...

No, author and movie both new. Thanks!

Hermione said...

Ronnie - I haven't read any of hers but plan to do so soon.

Ana - It's fairly recent.

YL - Yes, I like that bit too.

Sunnygirl - I read some of the reviews for it; some good, some not so good.

Emen - I was fortunate to have been sent this excerpt.

Hugs,
Hermione

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing the story!!

Mrs. Soft Bottom said...

Oh the spanker looks yummy! WIll have to look for it!

Hermione said...

Renee - It was my pleasure.

Mrs SB - Good luck!

Hugs,
Hermione

Unknown said...

mmm never been a jilly fan but might have to check this one out..... can u easlye get hold of the film lol?

Hermione said...

Ticcers Aloud - You might want to check out the link that Fondlers Anon provided in the first comment above.

Hugs,
Hermione