From Publishers Weekly
Take a self-assured Brit with an eye for the ladies, drop him in the middle of Paris with a tenuous grasp of the language and you have Clarke's alter ego, Paul West, who combines the gaffes of Bridget Jones with the boldness of James Bond. Hired to oversee the creation of a French chain of British tearooms, Clarke, aka West, spends nine months—the equivalent of a French business year—stumbling his way through office politics à la française. Clarke's sharp eye for detail and relentless wit make even the most quotidian task seem surreal, from ordering a cup of coffee to picking up a loaf of bread at the boulangerie. Luck is by West's side as he moves into a stunning apartment (with his boss's attractive daughter), but he has to be careful where he steps, as he finds he "began to branch out from literal to metaphorical encounters of the turd kind." Between conspiring colleagues, numerous sexual escapades (he deems French porn "unsexy" since "Being French, they had to talk endlessly before they got down to action") and simply trying to order a normal-sized glass of beer, West quickly learns essential tricks to help him keep his head above the Seine. Originally self-published in Paris, Clarke's first book in a soon-to-be-series is funny and well-written enough to appeal to an audience beyond just Francophiles. Agent, Susanna Lea at Susanna Lea Associates. (May)
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From AudioFile
This surprise international bestseller is a sharp-tongued, funny account of a corporate-climbing Brit thrust deep into the MERDE of daily Parisian life. Gerard Doyle neatly embodies protagonist Paul West as the cocky, headstrong success-and-skirt-chasing young exec who must adjust to an annoyingly eccentric Gallic lifestyle. You'll laugh as West explains his blundering attempts to solve the puzzle of French society, finally succumbing to its charms in his take-no-prisoners entrepreneurial style. Though MERDE is not as funny as, say, Monty Python, it makes a pleasant fondue of humor and folly for the ear. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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