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 townhouse 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 ex-pat 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 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.
