Pardon My French

An "entertaining and enlightening" travel memoir that explores the differences between life in France and life in America (Booklist).

To make a friend is a joy. To make a friend in another country is a wonderment—a small miracle. Pardon My French follows an American couple as they embrace a daunting mission: not to be spectators in France, but to be absorbed by France.

Amid the minefields of linguistic faux pas, the perplexities of French gestures, the exquisite and often exotic cuisine, and the splendor of Christmas on the Mediterranean, we discover what it is like for an occasionally gruff American to be adopted into a new family. We follow the author as he pits his rather staid and conventional driving skills against the French speed demons of Languedoc. We step into his sneakers as he tests his basketball prowess against the young French bucks adorned with backward ball caps and Chicago Bulls game shorts. We watch as he frolics in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time with a French topless companion, sits in with a world-class French jazz band, and makes conversation with the beautiful nude model from his painting class in the studio atop the village police station.

This is not only a story of a journey to France, but an account of how France transformed one man's life.

"As a reader who loved A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle and Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik I was greatly pleased to find that Pardon my French is just as delightful and in the same tradition . . . . Anyone who has traveled in France, or would like to someday, will find much to love about this book." —Claire Bellarmine, author of An Adjustment in Consciousness

"He goes beyond merely noting his experiences to exploring the causes of cultural traditions . . . It is this openness and curiosity, along with the author's infectious humor, that makes Pardon My French both entertaining and enlightening." —Booklist