Paul West, an Englishman abroad in the classic sense, observant, astute and very British even though he attempts to infiltrate the French way of life. This comic semi-autobiographical yarn (it must be) follows on from his wonderful A Year in the Merde where Paul, the king of the comic phrase and ridiculous situation, still seeks love and understanding. It’s very tongue-in-cheek stuff.
A year after arriving in France, Englishman Paul West is still struggling with some fundamental questions.
What is the best way to scare a gendarme? Why are there no health warnings on French nudist beaches? Is it really polite to sleep with your boss's mistress? And how do you cope with a plague of courgettes?
Paul opens his English tearoom and mutates (temporarily) into a Parisian waiter; samples the pleasures of typically French hotel-room afternoons; and, on a return visit to the UK, sees the full horror of a British office party through Parisian eyes.
Meanwhile, he continues his search for the perfect French mademoiselle. But will Paul find l’amour éternel, or will it all end in merde?
Stephen Clarke lives in Paris, where he divides his time between writing and not writing. His first novel, A Year in the Merde, originally became a word-of-mouth hit in 2004, and is now published all over the world. Since then he has published three more bestselling Merde novels, as well as Talk to the Snail, an indispensable guide to understanding the French.
Research for Stephen's novels has taken him all over France and America. For 1000 Years of Annoying the French, he has also been breathing the chill air of ruined castles and deserted battlefields, leafing through dusty chronicles, brushing up the medieval French he studied at university and generally losing himself in the mists of history.
He has now returned to present-day Paris, and is doing his best to live the entente cordiale.
