A Literary Hoax-en-Paris

Paul West, 27, left his native Britain a year ago to help launch a chain of English tea rooms in Paris. He kept a diary of his adventures and published 200 copies privately, mostly for friends. But Paris bookstores discovered West's gently satirical look at Gallic foibles, radio stations invited him to discuss it, and now the book, A Year in the Merde (Bantam Press; 335 pages), is poised to become an international publishing phenomenon. After a high-profile auction in July, Bantam won British rights to Merde for nearly $140,000, and the book is being rushed into U.K. stores in September....