Sap Rising

An outrageously sexy and riotously funny satire of manners.

'Extremely badly written, hideously and unamusingly obscene'

'This romp among the gardens of Kensington is politically incorrect in a spectacular way which makes it among the most original novels of the year'

'Absolutely outrageous - a dazzling writer'

'Fine comic scenes...readers will have trouble putting Sap Rising down, even if their gorge rises'

'Imagine Barbara Pym writing for Penthouse'

A.A. Gill was born in Edinburgh in 1954 and studied at the Slade School of Art. He is the restaurant and television critic for The Sunday Times, for whom he also writes a weekly opinion column. He is the author of two novels, Sap Rising and Starcrossed, and two restaurant biographies, The Ivy Cookbook and Le Caprice. He lives in London.

Buchan Gardens is a sedate square in West London. Charles Goodwin, the garden committee president, would like the garden to stay just the way it is. Lord Vernon of Barnstable, the appalling life peer, has plans for the garden. Bryony Mullins, the gusset-mouthed harridan, doesn't give a flying knicker elastic what happens to the garden as long as it's not what Vernon wants. Angel Tenby, the sexually organic gardener, wants the garden to run free. Mrs Kotzen, the neighbour, wants the garden to be chic. The vicar wants the garden to be accessible and relevant. Lily Ng, the teenage daily, would probably think the garden silly if she thought about it at all; she wants to offer sex in lieu of ironing. Mona Corinth, the Hollywood legend, is dead and may be about to become part of the garden. Iona Wallace is the obligatory love interest. She would like to be a garden: laid, forked, plucked, seeded, mulched, vigorously pollarded, bedded and admired for her natural beauty. The garden wants absolutely nothing at all. 
 
Sap Rising may well be a story about dark dank nature both human and vegetable and our uneasy relationship with the mystic natural forces that move the earth. It may be a parable on the fragile consensus that maintains and tends green England. On the other hand, it might just be a farcical love story set in a garden about nothing of any consequence performed by comic grotesques with a lot of swearing and unnatural sex.

A A Gill

'His writing is like a nude by Lucien Freud: ugly, but human and true'

'Britain's funniest and least politically correct author'

'Captivating storytelling peppered with perceptive humour and the occasional philosophical gem. This is A.A. Gill at his best - funny and in full flight'

'Reverberates with low humour and lurid, extravagant sex...every page explodes with the gaudy colours of exotic metaphor'

'The wit and bravura are what one expects from him, but he has added a broader emotional range and engaging characters'

'Firing off his caustic, cynical observations and witty epigrams, he comes across as a modern day Oscar Wilde, a curious mix of naked aggression and high camp'

'Genuinely enjoyable, often funny and sometimes touching'

A.A. Gill's first novel, SAP RISING, garnered a galaxy of reviews when it was published, from the enchanted 'Among the most original novels of the year' (Financial Times) to the hysterical 'Do not buy this book' (Guardian), from the delirious 'Extremely funny' (Time Out) to the outraged 'Frightful pile of garbage', to the contradictory 'He writes so brilliantly' (Daniel Farson, Evening Standard), 'Extremely badly written, hideously and unamusingly obscene' (A.N. Wilson, Evening Standard). It can reasonably be said that SAP RISING was one of the most visible books of the year. 
 
Now comes something equally striking and completely different: STARCROSSED. 
 
Like Byron, John Dart, poet and bookshop assistant, wakes up one morning and finds himself, if not quite famous, then the next best thing: in bed with someone famous. Lee Montana, singer, film star and the most famous woman in the world, wakes up one morning and finds she's had carnal knowledge of a shop assistant - which doesn't have quite the same exclamatory ring to it. Antigone doesn't wake up at all. She is a 2,000-year-old dead Greek girl with a truculent disposition and a bad dose of destiny. Tentatively, John and Lee embark on a sort of affair with three unequal partners: the two of them and Antigone's bitter shadow. 
 
Is fame the beauty parlour of the dead? Can the gods fall in love? Should a poet fuck with his muse? In his dazzling new novel A.A. Gill flirts with capricious destiny and hitchhikes on the boulevard of fate.

A A Gill

Praise for Starcrossed

'His writing is like a nude by Lucien Freud: ugly, but human and true'

'Britain's funniest and least politically correct author'

'Captivating storytelling peppered with perceptive humour and the occasional philosophical gem. This is A.A. Gill at his best - funny and in full flight'

'His writing is like a nude by Lucien Freud: ugly, but human and true'

'Britain's funniest and least politically correct author'

'Captivating storytelling peppered with perceptive humour and the occasional philosophical gem. This is A.A. Gill at his best - funny and in full flight'

'His writing is like a nude by Lucien Freud: ugly, but human and true'

'Britain's funniest and least politically correct author'

'Captivating storytelling peppered with perceptive humour and the occasional philosophical gem. This is A.A. Gill at his best - funny and in full flight'

Books by A A Gill

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