Sour Grapes

Dan Rhodes

‘Hilarious. I laughed like a banshee’ David Sexton, Sunday Times

When the sleepy English village of Green Bottom hosts its first literary festival, the good, the bad and the ugly of the book world descend upon its leafy lanes.

But the villagers are not prepared for the peculiar habits, petty rivalries and unspeakable desires of the authors. And they are certainly not equipped to deal with Wilberforce Selfram, the ghoul-faced, ageing enfant terrible who wreaks havoc wherever he goes.

Sour Grapes is a hilarious satire on the literary world which takes no prisoners as it skewers authors, agents, publishers and reviewers alike.

‘A rollicking satire of publishing, writers and book festivals. As broad as the Atlantic but filled with zingers’ Ian Rankin

‘The funniest book since Cold Comfort Farm’ Julie Burchill

‘Utterly brilliant. Not just laugh-out-loud funny, it’s spit-out-your-tea hilarious’ Mark Billingham

‘Piercing and hilarious’ The Times, Best Books of 2021

‘No one in publishing escapes a brutal skewering in this laugh-out-loud satire. I loved it’ Daily Mail

‘A deliciously absurdist farce. I can’t think of a more cheeky rib-dig at publishing since Amanda Craig’s A Vicious Circle’ Julia Raeside, The i Paper

‘I devoured Sour Grapes in one sitting, cackling and wincing along the way’ The Big Issue

Hardback: 384pp

Published: Lightning (November 2021)

ISBN: 9781785632921