Ambition by Julie Burchill. Still v.rude and raunchy with a power to shock 24 years on.

Ambition Julie Burchill's debut novel has been reissued after 24 years and it is still v. v. rude! - 'it makes Fifty Shades of Grey look like Anne of Green Gables' - read on for an exclusive Q&A with Julie about Ambition.

Oh the excitement in the office when we heard that Ambition was being reissued 24 years on from its original publication. This rude, raunchy, sleazy, addictively readable, guilty pleasure still has the power to shock and as Julie Burchill says herself 'it makes Fifty Shades of Grey look like Anne of Green Gables'. The plot - nakedly ambitious deputy news editor, Susan Street, wants the top job and ruthlessly immoral media baron, Tobias Pope, will give it to her provided she does EVERYTHING he wants her to do… but really he just wants to break her. Welcome back the un-PC Grandmother of Mummy Porn!

Lovereading got the chance to ask Julie a few questions about her debut novel 24 years on - and you can read them below - but be warned her answers are pretty direct (as you would expect!).

Q&A with Julie Burchill

1. Ambition is now being seen as a progenitor for books like 50 Shades of Grey and the whole Mummy porn genre - what is your view?

I haven’t read any of the Grey books, but from what I’ve read ABOUT them, the heroine seems quite wet. Whereas my heroine, Susan Street, is extremely tough. I’d want to be friends with Susan Street, whereas Anastasia Steele seems a wimp, and therefore a bore.

2. If Susan Street (Ambition) met Anastasia Steele (50 Shades) what do you think she would say?

‘Grow a pair, BITCH!’

3. Re-reading Ambition 20 years on how do you feel about your debut novel?

It’s just extraordinarily RUDE. I took it to the hairdresser yesterday, and I had to put it down, I was blushing so much.

4. 20 years ago your book pushed the boundaries on mainstream fiction. Where do you think it sits now?

There are ruder books, and there are funnier books. But I can’t think of a book by a woman which is so funny AND so rude.

5. Do you think the media barons of today are much different from the fictionalised 'Tobias Pope' of the early ‘80s?

I don’t think there were ever any media barons like Tobias Pope, regrettably. He was only ever a figment of my dirty twentysomething mind.

Julie Burchill has written more than a dozen books, with the TV adaptation of one of them, Sugar Rush, winning an International Emmy. Her hobbies include spite, luncheon, philanthropy, writing short stories and learning Modern Hebrew. She has been a journalist since the age of 17 and is now 53 years old, and currently writing for the Daily Mail and Observer. She is married and lives in Brighton.