Jonah and Co.

A newlywed couple and their irrepressible companions set off from Boulogne to Pau in two tiny motorcars named Ping and Pong, embarking on what promises to be the most chaotic road trip in French history. The narrator, laid up with an injury, makes a fateful decision: hand the driving to his brother-in-law Berry, a man whose enthusiasm vastly outpaces his skill behind the wheel. What follows is a cascade of mishaps, near-disasters, and laugh-out-loud absurdity as this madcap crew bumbles their way through the French countryside. First published in 1922, these comic stories capture a vanished world of gaslit adventure where gentlemen drivers in goggles and ladies in traveling hats faced down mechanical failures, questionable roads, and each other with equal parts pluck and panic. Dornford Yates wrote with a light, witty touch that makes every disaster feel like a party. The humor remains fresh a century later because it is never mean, always affectionate, and rooted in the eternal comedy of people who mean well but cannot help making spectacular fools of themselves.