The book begins by the North Sea. It is a late summer's afternoon, and a bright sun has dispersed the greyness of the day. Two Englishmen are enjoying a swim off the Essex coast when all at once both have the feeling that they are back at the French seaside. They find themselves starting to tell each other of their youthful experiences of living in France. The adventures they narrate follow one after another like waves rolling onto the shore. Clive, coming from London, had found himself spending a year deep in the French countryside within sight of the western Pyrenees; John, hailing from Devon, had ended up living for a while in the City of Light within sight of the Folies Bergere. Outsiders though they were, they momentarily became part of French society, their adventures fuelled by the culinary delights of their adopted land. They tell their tales with humour and relish as they recall their initiation into the French way of life of decades ago - and how it shaped their own.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Frontispiece; Prologue; 1. An Englishman in the ninth district; 2. Clive's voyage into the unknown; 3. René ; 4. Clive the grape-picker; 5. John's stroll through Paris; 6. Clive arrives at Salies-de-Bé arn; 7. John finds a job in the big city; 8. Clive settles in Salies-de-Bé arn; 9. John's apprenticeship at a Paris bank; 10. Sad news for Clive from London; 11. Ciné ma vé rité : on location in Paris; 12. Clive back in the vineyard; 13. New waves for John; 14. Clive on a Mobylette to the Basque Country; 15. John and the elusive film world; 16. Bé arnaise sauce; 17. John, the gourmet banker; 18. Clive rolls up his sleeves in the provinces; 19. John and the newly-weds; 20. Clive tries his hand at rough shooting; 21. John moves house; 22. Clive and Marianne; 23. John settles in on the rue Sainte-Anastase; 24. Provincial doctor to Clive's rescue; 25. John meets Luisa; 26. Clive learns his lesson skiing at Cauterets; 27. John's friends find connubial bliss; 28. Crossing the border into Spain; 29. John meets Chuchi; 30. Clive heads for the metropolis; 31. John joins the Paris rag trade; 32 Live pop music à la franç aise; 33. John and the Marais copper-engraver; 34. Clive answers the call of the south; 35. The need to feed the inner man; 36. Clive enjoys good company in the café at Carresse; 37. John uses his Mé tro ticket; 38. Summer festivals - and Clive takes the mike; 39. John and the Irishman; 40. Small-town wedding; 41. John afloat in Paris; 42. Clive goes under at Saint-Jean-de-Luz; 43. John working with the Galerie Genot; 44. Clive on horseback in the Camargue; 45. John the balloon man; 46. Clive wields his knife and fork at Les Baux-de-Provence; 47. John's private view; Epilogue; Acknowledgements; Tailpiece
