Author(s): Celia Imrie

Fiction

Forced into early retirement and fed up with babysitting her demanding daughter's bratty children, fifty-nine-year-old Theresa is desperate for a change. Impulsively switching her town house in Highgate for a charming seaside flat, she makes the daunting but life-affirming move to the picture-perfect town of Bellevue-sur-Mer, just outside Nice. With its impressive villas and a shimmering cerulean sea, Bellevue-sur-Mer sparkles like a diamond on the French Mediterranean coast. Once home to countless artistic and literary visitors, nowadays the small town is home to the odd rock icon and Hollywood movie star and, as Theresa soon discovers, a close-knit set of foreigners with plenty of expat Brits among them. There's Carol, the infinitely glamorous American heiress, and her doting husband, David; the erstwhile British TV star Sally; the effervescent Guy and his partner, Gary; the ferocious business woman Sian and her wayward Australian poet husband, Ted, and the acerbic, older Zoe, who is rather fond of a drink, plus a little help from the surgeon's knife. And then of WC course there's the suave and charming Brian, who catches Theresa's eye. Brimming with a host of charming characters and narrated with effortless humour, Not Quite Nice is a story of secrets, friendships, and a lesson that it's never too late to have a new beginning.