French Flea Bites

Book excerpt: For fifteen years, humourist, writer, raconteur and generally funny man George East and his wife Donella lived in the remnants of an old water mill in the heart of Normandy's Cherbourg peninsula. The former night club bouncer, radio presenter, seamstress and professional bed tester's accounts of the couple's life and times in and around the tiny village of Nehou have been enjoyed by millions.This is the FOURTH book in the best-selling Mill of the Flea series, continuing the often farcical and always entertaining adventures of the author and his wife as they attempt to make a new life in rural France. In FRENCH FLEA BITES, new characters and bizarre situations encountered by our innocents abroad include a man who believes he died in 1979, a cat who becomes a werewolf at full moon, and a plan to turn a farmyard compost heap into Nehou's answer to the Millennium Dome. Totally unlike any other book in the genre, FRENCH FLEA BITES covers another eventful year for our hero and his wife as they stumble knee-deep through the rice pudding of their lives in darkest rural Normandy and at the Mill of the Flea. This episode introduces another galaxy of weird characters and situations - and a number of distinctly distinctive recipes, such as the favourite dishes of an (alleged) Ancient Egyptian god and his travelling companion! EVERY TYPE and age of reader from the confirmed Francophile (or Francophobe!) to the armchair adventurer...or anyone in search of a rattling good and very funny read will LOVE this book.Funny, clever, often poignant and always hugely entertaining. Above all, so true about life and people anywhere on the planet.As usual, George has given us his beautifully idiosyncratic view of life in rural France. As ever, it is very, very funny and achingly true throughout. For those with the ability to understand that observation is much more important than actuality, this is another masterclass in humanity...