Merde Happens [Paperback]

Q: What happens when an Englishman, an American, and a French woman drive across America in a Mini? A: Merde Happens ...

Paul West is in deep financial merde. His only way out of debt is to accept a decidedly dodgy job that involves him crossing the USA in a Mini, while pretending to be typically British. Adding to the crush in the car is Paul’s French girlfriend, Alexa, and his American poet friend Jake whose main aim in life is to sleep with a woman from every country in the world. Preferably in the back of Paul’s Mini. But as the little car battles from New York to Miami, and then heads west, legroom turns out to be the least of Paul’s troubles. His work is being sabotaged, his tour plans are in tatters, and his love life becomes a Franco-American war zone. And as Paul knows better than anyone, when you mix love and war – merde happens

Edgier than Bryson, hits harder than Mayle.’ The Times Paul West is in deep financial merde. His only way out of debt is to accept a decidedly dodgy job that involves him crossing the USA in a Mini, while pretending to be typically British. Adding to the crush in the car is Paul’s French girlfriend, Alexa, and his American poet friend Jake whose main aim in life is to sleep with a woman from every country in the world. Preferably in the back of Paul’s Mini. But as the little car battles from New York to Miami, and then heads west, legroom turns out to be the least of Paul’s troubles. His work is being sabotaged, his tour plans are in tatters, and his love life becomes a Franco-American war zone. And as Paul knows better than anyone, when you mix love and war – merde happens

Stephen Clarke lives in France. He has experimented with Gauloises, petanque and suppositories, but only as research for his writing. His first novel, A Year in the Merde, which introduced Paul West was first self-published in Paris where it became a word-of-mouth bestseller , and has now been translated into sixteen languages including French.