Merde Actually

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'Edgier than Bryson, hits harder than Mayle' The Times 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? And is it really polite to sleep with your boss's mistress? Paul opens his English tea room, 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? MERDE ACTUALLY In his second comedy of errors, Paul West continues to sabotage the entente cordiale. Author's apology: 'I'd just like to say sorry to all the suppository fans out there, because in this book there are no suppositories. There are, however, lots of courgettes, and I see this as progress. Suppositories to courgettes - I think it proves that I'm developing as a writer.' Stephen Clarke

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Stephen Clarke lives in France. He has experimented with Gauloises, pétanque and suppositories, but only as research for his writing. He likes to spend his free time sitting on café terraces trying to think up a clever answer to the question, 'Did those things in your books really happen?' His first book, A Year in the Merde, which introduced Paul West, was first self-published in 2004 in Paris where it became a word-of-mouth bestseller, and has now been translated into fourteen languages, including French.