Stephen Clarke lives in Paris, where he divides his time between writing and not writing. While researching Paris Revealed, his 'non-writing' time has been spent interrogating Parisians about their bizarre habits, and revisiting his favourite places in the city. His first novel, A Year in the Merde, became a word-of-mouth hit in 2004. Since then he has published three further bestselling Merde novels, as well as Talk to the Snail, an indispensable guide to understanding the French, and a history book, 1000 Years of Annoying the French, which was a Sunday Times bestseller.