Harriman House | Business Books | Politicos | Financial Conferences | Glossary | Investor Education | Derivatives | Financial Gurus | Spread Betting Central |

Home |  Search |  shopping basket Shopping basket
Tel: +44 (0)1730 233870    Email: bookshop@booksonfrance.com  
Categories

Detour De France by  	  Michael Simkins
  • Detour De France

  • An Englishman in Search of a Continental Education

  • by Michael Simkins
  • £9.34
  • (Convert currency)
  • Normal price: £10.99, you save: £1.65 (15%)
  • Only £2.00 UK postage (for single orders)
Usually ships within 3 to 5 working days

    • Product code: 418463
    • ISBN13: 9780091927523, 320 pages, paperback
      Published by Ebury Press in 2009
    Rate this book...

    Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)



    •   1

    •   2

    •   3

    •   4

    •   5


    Description of Detour De France

    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 ingenue, 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 elan 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.

    About Michael Simkins

    Michael Simkins trained at RADA. He has appeared in more than 70 plays, stage highlights include A View from the Bridge at the National Theatre as well as musicals Chicago and Mamma Mia. He also directed Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends at the Greenwich Theatre. He has made countless TV appearances - recent credits include Foyle's War and My Family - as well as turns on the silver screen in such films as Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy. He has worked with luminaries as diverse as Anthony Perkins, John Malkovich, Michael Gambon and Buster Merryfield. He lives with his actress wife Julia in London.

    Bulk buying
    If you need bulk copies of Detour De France, or are interested in opening a corporate account, please contact us.