Two institutions – both in leafy Larkshire, but worlds aside. The incomparable Jilly Cooper becomes her brilliant pen to the explosive world of education.

At Bagley Hall, a notoriously crazy, but increasingly academic, independent, crammed with the children from the famous, trouble is afoot. The ambitious and fatally attractive headmaster, Hengist Brett-Taylor, hatches an idea to talk about the facilities of his school with Larkminster Extensive – known locally, as ‘Larks’. His known reasons for doing this are about Wicked: Rutshire Chronicles, Book 8 purely monetary, but he is encouraged from the opportunities the scheme gives him for frequent conferences with Janna Curtis, the powerful new head of Larks, that has been drafted in to save what is a fast-sinking school from closure. Janna is young, quite, enthusiastic and vastly courageous – and she’ll perform anything to recovery her demoralised, run-down and cash-strapped college. Neither parents nor personnel of either school are too thinking about this radical move, even though some can see the possible economic advantages. For the students, however, it offers great opportunities to get up to a lot more mayhem than normal.

‘My reading of Jilly Cooper’s Wicked! was not guiltily pleasurable – it was simply pleasurable… a brilliantly relaxing go through.’ POLLY VERNON, OBSERVER