French Roll: Misadventures in Love, Life, and Roller Skating Across the French Riviera

Great book, Jarvis is a wonderful storyteller, one of those books that is hard to put down and when you do you can’t wait to pick it back up. His approach to his adventure is compelling, courageous, and quite entertaining with his will and determination inspiring. -Amazon Review

French Roll:
Misadventures in Love, Life, and Roller Skating
Across the French Riviera

Would you roller-skate 800 miles across the French Riviera for love? In this true adventure top 5 bestseller, teenage Michael skates solo from Italy to Spain to meet his girlfriend, despite her overprotective father and a country of topless beaches between them.

In the exemplary spirit of Bill Bryson and Cheryl Strayed, “French Roll” is hailed as “beautiful, fast-paced, and moving. While overcoming the physical challenges of skating up and down impossibly steep hills, critics boast “this lovely book captures the exuberance of youth, the joy of chasing dreams. A perfect read for shelter-in-place, it reminds us of the bountiful world waiting to be discovered. A pleasure to read, highly recommend!”

From the icy peaks of Germany to the steamy beaches of France, this coming-of-age story begins when Michael, 19, gets a letter from his girlfriend asking him to meet her in Barcelona. He quits his daredevil job at the top of the German Alps and plots a risky two-month trek across the coast of southern France — alone, on roller skates. He leaves his alpine friends behind to follow his heart with only a backpack, ski poles, and roller skates.

Even being chased down impossibly steep mountain roads by tour busses and ritzy sports cars can’t keep an American teenager down, especially when he’s delivering an engagement ring… and a dark confession. It was supposed to be fun and easy, but when disaster strikes his love life and a spectacular wipeout leaves him a heartbeat away from roadkill status, Michael must emerge from his tenderfoot life and learn some difficult lessons about growing up.

Rolling over every inch of the French Riviera, European history, art history, and French culture come together in this off-the-grid, true tale of living in the moment, creating your true self, and living to write about it.

Terrific fun read, brought me back to the days of my youth. Jarvis is a great story teller, making you feel every joy, heartache and near death experience like you were there. Meaningful gap year full of growth and determination. Can’t wait to read his next adventure. -Amazon Review

About the Author

J Michael Jarvis writes from his experiences as a professional jet pilot, yacht captain, and global adventurer with thousands of true, remarkable, and often hilarious stories of how he mucked things up. From roller-skating across France as a teen to escaping pirates as a yacht captain in the Caribbean Sea, Jarvis has lived a life even the most imaginative writers can only begin to fictionalize.

Jarvis holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautics. He is a captain of both air and sea. He holds an Air Transport Pilot license and a Coast Guard Master License, allowing command of yachts and airplanes through experiences from North and South America to most Caribbean island nations.

A survivor as a passenger of an airplane crash, Jarvis has lived by a twist in the old pilot’s adage: “Any landing you can crawl away from with broken arms and legs—on fire—is a good one.” Jarvis continues to fly and write about his adventures on the sea and in the sky. His humor is both inspirational and thought-provoking, with rare insight into the generosity we are given with each extended day of our fragile lives.

An active member of Southern California Writers Association, Jarvis lives just a few miles from where he was born in Newport Beach, California. Jarvis is happily married with four adult children. French Roll is his first book.