{"product_id":"9781596917460","title":"A Year in the Merde","description":"A Year in the Merde is the almost-true account of the author's \u003cbr\u003eadventures as an expat in Paris. Based on his own experiences and with \u003cbr\u003enames changed to \"avoid embarrassment, possible legal action-and to \u003cbr\u003eprevent the author's legs being broken by someone in a Yves Saint \u003cbr\u003eLaurent suit\", the book is narrated by Paul West, a \u003cbr\u003etwenty-seven-year-old Brit who is brought to Paris by a French company \u003cbr\u003eto open a chain of British \"tea rooms.\" He must manage of a group of \u003cbr\u003elazy, grumbling French employees, maneuver around a treacherous Parisian\u003cbr\u003e boss, while lucking into a succession of lusty girlfriends (one of whom\u003cbr\u003e happens to be the boss's morally challenged daughter). He soon becomes \u003cbr\u003eimmersed in the contradictions of French culture: the French are not all\u003cbr\u003e cheese-eating surrender monkeys, though they do eat a lot of smelly \u003cbr\u003echeese, and they are still in shock at being stupid enough to sell \u003cbr\u003eLouisiana, thus losing the chance to make French the global language. \u003cbr\u003eThe book will also tell you how to get the best out of the grumpiest \u003cbr\u003eParisian waiter, how to survive a French business meeting, and how not \u003cbr\u003eto buy a house in the French countryside.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe author originally \u003cbr\u003ewrote A Year in the Merde just for fun and self-published it in France \u003cbr\u003ein an English-language edition. Weeks later, it had become a \u003cbr\u003eword-of-mouth hit for expats and the French alike. With translation \u003cbr\u003erights now sold in eleven countries and already a bestseller in the UK \u003cbr\u003eand France, Stephen Clarke is clearly a Bill Bryson (or a Peter \u003cbr\u003eMayle...) for a whole new generation of readers who can never quite \u003cbr\u003edecide whether they love-or love to hate-the French.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47158464839920,"sku":"9781596917460","price":14.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781596917460_p0.jpg?v=1763811803","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781596917460","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}