Paul West a young Englishman arrives in Paris to start a new job
- & finds out what the French are really like They do eat a lot of cheese some of which smells like pigs' droppings. They don't wash their armpits with garlic soap. Going on strike really is the second national participation sport after petanque. & yes they do use suppositories In his first novel Stephen Clarke gives a laugh-out-loud account of the pleasures & perils of being a Brit in France. Less quaint than A Year in Provence less chocolatey than Chocolat A Year in the Merde will tell you how to get served by the grumpiest Parisian waiter; how to make perfect vinaigrette every time; how to make amour
- not war; & how not to buy a house in the French countryside