This is a P.G. Wodehouse novel. Chateau Blissac, on its hill above St Roque in the French Riviera, is in a setting where every prospect pleases. But it doesn't please its current occupier, J. Wellington Gedge. Mr Gedge wants none of it - and particularly none of the domineering Mrs Gedge's imperious wish that he should become American Ambassador to Paris. Instead he pines for the simpler life of California, where men are men and filling stations stand tall. Mrs Gedge has powerful allies - including the nasty prohibitionist Senator Opal. But will she get her way? And will the Senator's surprisingly delightful daughter Jane get her man? In a plot which involves safe-blowers, conmen, jewel-thieves and even a Bloomsbury novelist, few are quite as they seem. But the heady atmosphere of the South of France in the 1930s makes for one of Wodehouse's most delightful comedies.

Author Biography

The author of almost a hundred books and the creator of Jeeves, Blandings Castle, Psmith, Ukridge, Uncle Fred and Mr Mulliner, P.G. Wodehouse was born in 1881 and educated at Dulwich College. After two years with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank he became a full-time writer, contributing to a variety of periodicals. As well as his novels and short stories, he wrote lyrics for musical comedies, and at one stage had five shows running simultaneously on Broadway. At the age of 93, in the New Year's Honours List of 1975, he received a long-overdue Knighthood, only to die on St Valentine's Day some 45 days later.