Bonnes Vacances

'Looks like not many tourists visit St Pierre et Miquelon,' I mutter excitedly to Pip. 'That is why this trip is going to be so brilliant.' He looks at me questioningly. I am distracted by Gabriel's unusually pallid face. 'Oh my God, he's going to be sick.'

Rosie set out on a tour of the French Overseas Departments and Territories (the 'Dom-Toms') with her husband and four young children, partly to make a documentary series but also to show the children it is possible to survive fourteen weeks without Hannah Montana. From Martinique to Réunion, crossing five continents, they eat stewed iguana, 400 croissants and - since the budget is small - copious amounts of Campbell's soup. Candid, darkly humorous and slightly mad, cut with a dash of French history, this memoir offers insights, amusement and hope for anyone who has ever travelled en famille.