Following retirement, Ted Prescott from Derbyshire is seeking a peaceful year out in the French village of Mailliot le Bois with his long-suffering but devoted wife Daisy. He hopes to unravel the mystery of his long-vanished brother and enjoy the gentle rhythms of village life. However when the mayor and other locals discover his authentic renditions of local French hero Frederic Debreu's songs they decide he could put their slightly impoverished home back on the map. Soon set up as shy French farm laborer Edouard Prescote, and performing to larger and larger crowds, to whom he cannot speak a word, Ted finds himself drawn into a web of well-intentioned deceit that he finds it increasingly impossible to disentangle himself from. With his elusive brother remaining elusive and the hopes of an entire community riding on him, we soon discover that there are more important things that he hasn't mentioned to his wife...With a dash of H.E. Bates and glugs of Alexander McCall Smith, Alex Marsh's clever and funny novel is both modern and timeless and will appeal to readers who enjoy gentle humor, strong characters and a simple moral message

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