“Gripping His Ears, Tugging At The Locks,” That’s Bad Sex

Rachel Johnson’s Shire Hell wins ‘worst sex scene in an excellent novel’ prize.

Congratulations go to Times columnist (and sister of London Mayor Boris Johnson) Rachel Johnson for winning this year’s Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Shire Hell, the follow-up to Notting Hell, picked up the prize for a passage in a novel which is most gratuitous, and not really required because the rest of the novel is ‘jolly good.’

And yes, we here at The Daily Dust have that passage:

I find myself gripping his ears and tugging at the locks curling over them, beside myself, and a strange animal noise escapes from me as the mounting, Wagnerian crescendo overtakes me. I really do hope at this point that all the Spodders are, as requested, attending the meeting about slug clearance…

Now in it’s 15th year, the Bad Sex in Fiction judges also awarded a Lifetime Achievement award to John Updike who has managed four consecutive nominations.

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