In Sunny Spells, Sempe explores a wide range of topics, from troubled relationships and existential crises to office politics and doping scandals in the literary world. His cast of characters includes pious churchgoers, amateur painters and lovelorn palaeontologists, as well as psychiatrists, actors and football supporters.

Most famous in the English-speaking world for his instantly recognizable New Yorker covers, Jean-Jacques Sempe has delighted readers in France and beyond with his witty drawings and keen eye for the finer points of the human condition for over forty years. Now, these sharply observed and beautifully drawn cartoons are available in English for the first time. Many of Sempes intricate and evocative illustrations are accompanied by laconic, perfectly judged captions, which were translated by Anthea Bell, who also translated the Asterix comics into English.