Edward St Aubyn made his name with novels exorcising the demons of his
childhood. He tells Robbie Millen why he is finally able to write a
comic novel, satirising the literary scene

So has Dame Stella Rimington been in touch? Edward St Aubyn replies to
the question with a look of studied, unbudgeable blankness.

St Aubyn’s latest novel, Lost for Words, is a very funny satire on the
literary scene and the Man Booker Prize. One of the hapless judges of
his imaginary Elysian Prize is Penny Feathers, a retired Foreign Office