A Year in the Scheisse: Getting to Know the Germans by Roger Boyes

A Bestseller in Germany

Laugh-out-loud funny, this is the memorable story of an English journalist's adventures - including his encounters with women - as he tries to get to grip with the Germans. Facing bankruptcy, Roger is advised by his accountant to make use of a legal loophole: in Germany married couples have their tax bill halved. So the search is on for a German bride. Meanwhile his father, a former bomber pilot and war hero, is also in financial trouble and is threatening to move to Germany and sponge off his son.

The combination of financial, romantic and parental crises sets in train a hilarious romp. Writing incisively and almost without prejudice, Roger Boyes describes the peculiarities of everyday life in Germany. Roger Boyes, 54, was born in Hereford into a military family and moved around a lot. He has been a foreign correspondent for over thirty years, and is currently the Germany correspondent for The Times and author of the column 'My Berlin' in Tagesspiegel.