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Detour de France: An Englishman in Search of a Continental Education

Though happy enough with his lot, Michael Simkins has never truly shaken the nagging doubt — helpfully upheld by his partner Julia — that he somehow lacks worldly sophistication. While she spent her teenage years as a nanny on a boat moored at Cannes, his utter lack of travel experience (Weymouth, Cleethorpes and a day trip to Dieppe) still has the power to shock people into leaving dinner parties early.

So as he hits middle-age, Michael takes up the challenge of broadening his horizons. He decides to improve himself in the same way English gentlemen lacking refined edges have for centuries: by learning from our more cultured French neighbours. Michael, an English provincial ingénue, sets off to discover just what the Gallic nation can teach him and the rest of us Anglo-Saxons about living the good life with equal parts élan and savoir-faire. Armed only with 50 Useful Phrases in French, he waits to see if his odyssey from La Manche to the Riviera will finally turn him from the scotch-egg eating spawn of Anne Widdecombe and John McCririck into the champagne-sipping love child of Serge Gainsbourg and Catherine Deneuve. Julia is saying a prayer for him at Lourdes.

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 320
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 978-0-09-192752-3
  • EAN
  • 9780091927523
  • Genres
  • travel, france, humor
  • Release date
  • 2009