The Secret Life of France

1. Proposal : driving and breakfast -- 2. The secret garden -- Slap and tickle, guilt and parking -- Adultery and the cult of beauty -- 3. Being a woman : la libido, la femme fatale and the sisterhood -- 4. Truth versus beauty -- Tragedy, comedy and historic French losers -- Television, hypocrisy and ideas -- 5. The wedding -- Catholicism, anti-semitism and le pen -- Languae, yoghurt and hot rabbits -- 6. Sublime, necessarily sublime -- Mayors, mass demonstration and mayhem -- Nobility, freedom and status -- 7. Maternity -- Glory, breastfeeding and the norm -- 8. Education -- Freud, maths and the cult of reason -- Smiley happy people -- 9. The past -- The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie -- French rudeness, surrender and betrayal -- Collaboration and defeat -- 10. Foreign affairs -- Cake and spies -- Anti-Americanism and la force de frappe -- 11. Tolérance zéro -- Cops and spooks -- France's war on terror -- 12. Sarkozy and the end of ideology -- Sex dwarves and the patriarchy -- The society of the spectacle and the end of the secret garden -- 13. Black, blanc, beur -- Football, rap and role models -- 14. Epilogue -- Douce France.

At the age of eighteen Lucy Wadham ran away from English boys and into the arms of a Frenchman. Twenty-five years later, having married in a French Catholic Church, put her children through the French educational system and divorced in a French court of law, Wadham is perfectly placed to explore the differences between Britain and France.

Using both her personal experiences and the lessons of French history and culture, she examines every aspect of French life - from sex and adultery to money, happiness, race and politics - in this funny and engrossing account of our most intriguing neighbour.

At the age of eighteen Lucy Wadham ran away from English boys and into the arms of a Frenchman. Twenty-five years later, having married in a French Catholic Church, put her children through the French educational system and divorced in a French court of law, Wadham is perfectly placed to explore the differences between Britain and France. Using both her personal experiences and the lessons of French history and culture, she examines every aspect of French life - from sex and adultery to money, happiness, race and politics - in this funny and engrossing account of our most intriguing neighbour. Everything you wanted to know about France but were too afraid to ask..