Clara’s Verdict
A.A. Gill died in December 2016, and the journalism world has been measurably poorer for it since. Far and Away is the second posthumous collection of his travel writing, and it is a reminder of how comprehensively he outclassed almost everyone working in the same territory. The man could go anywhere — a Rohingya camp, the dining room at El Bulli, a motorway service station — and render each with the same unflinching clarity and wit. Having Bill Nighy read these pieces is an inspired piece of casting. Nighy’s voice has the same quality as Gill’s prose: simultaneously elegant and accessible, warmly ironic, capable of unexpected tenderness.
About the Audiobook
This collection gathers journalism from across Gill’s career, ranging geographically from St Tropez to the Kalahari, from Moscow’s nightclubs to earthquake-devastated Haiti. The organising principle is encounter — Gill was fascinated by the act of meeting people, and by the question of what « abroad » actually means to a species now capable of crossing the world in hours. His answer, characteristically, is that abroad remains as strange and challenging as it ever was, and that our need to understand our neighbours has not diminished with the ease of travel.
The writing spans registers without effort. Gill on food is amongst the finest gastronomy criticism in the English language — precise, sensory, and frequently very funny. Gill on suffering — the Rohingya, post-earthquake Port-au-Prince — is something else: unsparing without being exploitative, grieving without being sentimental. The collection also contains some of his more playful set-pieces: Benidorm, the glitterati of the Côte d’Azur, the specific theatre of the Russian nouveau riche. At thirteen and a half hours, this is a generous listening experience, and the quality never dips.
It is worth noting that Gill was dying as some of these later pieces were written. Knowing that lends an additional layer of significance to his insistence on curiosity, on engagement, on the persistent value of looking outward.
The Narration
Bill Nighy is an ideal choice. His delivery is dry without being cold, emotionally intelligent without descending into performance. He manages Gill’s long, architecturally complex sentences with the ease of someone who clearly inhabits the prose rather than merely reading it aloud. The passages of sharp comic observation get exactly the timing they require; the more sombre material is handled with appropriate gravity. Nighy doesn’t try to imitate Gill — the recording is not an impression — but he captures the voice’s quality, its particular relationship between intelligence and delight. A pleasure throughout.
What Readers Say
Far and Away holds a rating of 4.7 stars from 100 listeners, and the reviews are striking for their consistency of warmth. One UK reader wrote that Gill’s « command of the English language is a delight » and that he represented a standard of writing now regrettably rare. Another called him « a really talented writer and critic » who « got to the heart of the subject » and « took you on a story and adventure in his reviews. » Readers describe the experience as both comic and substantive: « brutally and wittily honest, so sharp and so readable. » Even those approaching the book more casually — « still reading, still enjoying » — find the material rewarding. The consistent note across all reviews is gratitude: gratitude that these pieces were collected, and grief that there will be no more.
Who Should Listen?
This is for readers who believe great journalism is a literary form in its own right. If you have never encountered A.A. Gill, this is an excellent starting point — his particular combination of savage wit, formal precision, and genuine empathy is immediately distinctive. Fans of travel writing, food writing, and cultural criticism will find much to admire. Equally recommended for Nighy admirers who want to hear him working at the peak of his craft as a narrator.
