A Year in the Merde Audiobook (Free)

An urban antidote to A Year in Provence, Stephen Clarke’s book is a laugh-out-loud account of a year in the life of an expat in Paris- for Francophiles and Francophobes alike

A Calendar year IN THE MERDE is the almost-true account of the author’s activities as an expat in Paris. Based loosely by himself experiences and with names transformed to ‘prevent embarrassment, possible legal action and to prevent the author’s hip and legs being broken by someone inside a Yves Saint Laurent match (or potentially, a Christian about A 12 months in the Merde Dior skirt), ‘ A Calendar year IN THE MERDE may be the story of a Paul West, a 27-year-old Brit who’s brought to Paris by a French firm to open up a chain of British ‘tea areas.’ He quickly becomes immersed in the contradictions of French tradition: the French aren’t all cheese-eating surrender monkeys, though they do eat a whole lot of smelly cheese; they remain in surprise at being stupid enough to market Louisiana, thus losing the opportunity to make French the global language, while going on strike is the second national involvement sport after pétanque. He also illuminates ways to get the very best out of the grumpiest Parisian waiter, how exactly to survive a French business conference, and how not to buy a house in the French countryside.

The writer originally wrote A YEAR IN THE MERDE just for fun and self-published it in France in an British language edition. Weeks afterwards, it had become a word-of-mouth hit for expats and the French as well, even outselling Costs Clinton’s memoir at Paris’s fabled American bookstore Brentano’s. With translation rights now sold in eleven countries, Stephen Clarke is actually a Costs Bryson (or a Peter Mayle…) for a whole new generation of readers who can’t ever quite decide whether they love-or want to hate-the French.