This is the story of one man's love affair with France. His heart having first been captured in 1949 when, at the age of fifteen, he cycled alone and virtually penniless to catch the night boat to Dieppe, Michael de Larrabeiti relates with lyrical ease his journey through manhood, telling vivid, humorous and often affecting tales of his adventures, of his passions and of the extraordinary people he encountered. From the linguistically challenged teenage boy forcing down a Green Chartreuse when he actually wanted a peppermint cordial, to the adult man usurped in a girlfriend's bed by a Yorkshire terrier named Pudding; from a mischievous revenge on a nauseous party of illmannered publicans, to the painstakingly staged seduction of Rapunzel and the Black Widow, French Leave will charm and enthral anyone with an interest in France, good food, wine or high adventure.