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| French Leave
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Main page / Bibliography / French Leave
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First published in UK: January 20 1956 by Herbert Jenkins, London
First published in US: September 28 1959 by Simon & Schuster, New York
 Russian translation
- Francuzskie kanikuly by N. Trauberg: 2003, 2025
'Here we are, young, ardent idealistic, yearning for life and
love and laughter, and what do we get? Eggs.'
But with a nest-egg of another kind, the Trent sisters - Terry and Jo - fly from the chicken
farm the chicken farm in Bensonburg to the fleshpots of France, where even the eagle eye
of elder sister Kate cannot prevent muddle and mismatch. Decayed French aristocrats, two
mineral-water millionaires - one trouserless - a good-looking Resistance hero, a policeman with
the disposition of a snapping turtle, a publisher on the razzle, and formidable and ambitious aunt
all add to the mayhem. And what with the fate of the Umbrella Club and the whereabouts of the
dossier Quibolle, it is a little difficult for Terry's chickens to come home to roost along
the flight path of true love...
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Click for enlarge book cover
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Characters
J. Russell Clutterbuck — Publisher of Winch & Clutterbuck
who lives in Bensonburg, Long Island with his third wife. He
loves to eat.
Kate Trent — Eldest daughter of the late playwright Edgar Trent
bought a hen and bee farm in Bensonburg
Josephine Trent — Prettiest of the Trent girls who loves Henry
(Terry) Teresa Trent — Youngest sister who loves Jeff and poses
as Jo's maid, Fellowes
Henry Weems — Minor partner in a law firm who loves Jo.
Solid and unadventurous.
Fellowes — The name chosen to represent the maid of the rich Miss Trent
(Old Nick) Nicolas Jules St. Xavier Auguste, Marquis de Maufringneuse —
Jeff's father, a rogue who had married Hermione and winds up as head waiter
married to a French cook
(Jeff) Jefferson, Comte d'Escrignon — Old Nick's son by his
first marriage to the American Loretta Ann Potter. Novellist
who loves Terry.
Chester Todd — Amiable rich husband of a famous violinist,
Jane Parker. Jeff's friend and Mavis' brother.
(Butch) Frederick Carpenter — Wealthy American who loves Mavis
Hermione Pegler — Mavis' aunt and Nick's former wife
Philippe — Bartender in the Hotel Splendide at Roville
Mavis Todd — Dumb, obedient and wealthy niece of Hermione's engaged to Butch
Pierre Alexandre Boissonade — Commissaire of Police at Roville
Sir Percy Bunt (*)
M. de la Hourmerie (*)
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 Synopsis
The Wodehouses had lived in France, on and off, for about six years. This
is the most French of the novels. It is set mostly in the holiday resort of
Roville. Jeff, the hero, is Jefferson Comte d'Escrignon, now a writer. He
had been in the Resistance. His mother had been American. He has fallen in
love at first sight with American Terry Trent, but he won't court her
because he isn't rich and he thinks she is. (Actually she and her sister
are pretending to be a rich girl and her maid.) Jeff's father, Marquis de
Maufringneuse and a lot more, has had two American wives. He is a sort of
feckless Uncle Fred/Ukridge/Mr Micawber combined with Jill (the Reckless)'s
Uncle Chris and Lord Hoddesdon. He sponges cheerfully on his son, Jeff. He
is called 'Old Nick' and his best friend is a prince, an old reprobate with
three breach of promise cases against him.
This novel is distinctly related to an idea Guy Bolton sold to Hollywood,
of three attractive sisters (in this case, Terry, Josephine and Kate, who
are running a hens-and-bees farm on Long Island) setting out to blow a
small legacy and find husbands and happiness.
If Wodehouse is trying to say something in this novel (and he stoutly
denied that he ever had a message), it is that the fringes of the French
nobility are just as lunatic as the English ditto; and perhaps not only the
fringes.
Source: Richard Usborne. Plum Sauce. A P G Wodehouse Companion.
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