You have to be very self-disciplined. Normally, in my working life I’m told to turn up at rehearsal at a certain time and say someone else’s lines, which is easy. But with writing you really have to make yourself have a routine… I’ve tried to do the two [writing and acting] together but it isn’t a comfortable fit. I remember reading corrections and proofs of my book when I was in India filming The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which felt rather bizarre, the two worlds clashing. The discipline needed to be a writer is far greater than for an actor, so I have even more respect for writers now than I had before. However, as Theresa begins to acclimatise to her new, independent life she soon discovers that you should be very careful what you wish for. Things may look greener on the other side of the Channel, but Nice and its inhabitants are not quite as nice as she first thought.

Nice Series: : Celia Imrie: Bloomsbury Publishing The Nice Series: : Celia Imrie: Bloomsbury Publishing

The Olivier award-winning actor Celia Imrie, best known for film roles in Calendar Girls and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, is about to publish her first novel, Not Quite Nice. A comic caper set among the tangled lives of a group of expats in a southern French village, Imrie wrote most of it at her own apartment in Nice. This charming first novel by British actress Imrie (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Calendar Girls) extols Vera in the BBC adaptation of A Dark Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell). She came to the set once, and talked to us about the plot. I told her I thought it was just fabulous. She said – she’s quite frightening, actually – she said very often a story centres on people wondering who a character’s father is but she thought, what if we don’t know who the mother is? It seemed such a simple twist but, my God – it was quite marvellous. That sort of fantastically tapestried story is what I’m trying to write now for book two, trying being the operative word. Interesting group of people living in France – typical of middle aged, slightly bored people wanting a change’ I’m slightly wary of the generation below me, who I find rather money-obsessed. In my day we would never even have discussed the word inheritance, but it often comes up in conversation nowadays. I find the whole subject rather vulgar. I suppose that’s why it reared itself in the book.Once the hideaway of artists and writers, Bellevue-Sur-Mer is now home to the odd movie star and, as Theresa discovers, a close-knit set of expats. Settling to the gentle rhythm of the seaside, Theresa embraces her new-found friendships and freedom. But life is never as simple as it seems, and when skeletons fall out of several closets, Theresa starts to wonder if life on the French Riviera is quite as nice as it first appeared . The main focus of the story is the characters, loveable eccentrics who you feel you’d love to meet and chat to. The plot is straight forward, with no great surprises, but enough to make an amusing and readable tale. What an enjoyable way to spend a weekend afternoon by escaping to the Cote D'Azur, and to the charming town of Bellevue-sur-Mer, and its delightful array of residents. The initial descriptions of the town, conjured up pictures of a pretty town in Southern France, and I had the feeling the whole time that it felt like a similar sort of place to the one in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. And in fact that feeling didn't leave me during the book, and there was a similar storyline to the film, running through part of the book, which made me both smile and gasp. A cinematic denouement followed by an equally dramatic conclusion ties it all in a bow. Actress ( The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) Imrie's lighthearted first novel touches on real-world financial, occupational, and familial concerns of older readers in a way that's genuine and yet reminiscent of old Hollywood movies . . . Recommended for readers seeking a breezy read with a touch of romance and mystery and a heroine they can relate to. I can't say this was particularly well written - it seems that towards the end, the author just wanted to get this book done and get all the stories wrapped up, which led to some really implausible and far-fetched revelations. The characters, especially the children of two of the female characters, were caricatures of entitlement and nastiness. And there were a lot of characters!

Not Quite Nice - Imrie, Celia: 9781408846896 - AbeBooks

There are lots of lovely ideas in this book, however, they seem to fizzle out as Ms Imrie hits on the next one. I liked the idea of the escaping grandmother; and of the cookery class; and of the recipes; and of the rescued furniture; and of the community supporting each other; and of older women learning new skills; I was fascinated by the way property is sold in France... But I could not not a handle on the different characters for they were not clearly drawn enough; the boring grandmother who allowed herself to be put upon for years by her grandchildren and tamed them in an hour - no way! The abhorrent children, every single one of them, them older lady who fell down stone steps yet didn't need emergency hospital treatment. An the plot... So many red herrings you could have made a hot fish soup. Shelve this book under "middle-aged woman rediscovers zest in her life" and "English people misbehaving abroad". This is light-hearted escapism, starting when Theresa, on a whim, buys a house in a lovely seaside town on the Riviera. The small community of English-speaking expatriates, embraces the new arrival, and soon Theresa is enjoying her new life. But it's not all baguettes and vin blanc , and drug dealers, con men and corporate spies soon appear on the scene.One thing many of the characters have in common is their children are horrid. And I mean horrid. I can’t quite fathom that a/ children would treat their parents like they do in this book or b/ anyone would let their children treat them like they do in this book. I’m sorry, it’s unbelievable. Okay, so there might be people out there with awful children but I would assume they were horrible parents in the first place. These middle aged horrors seem to have all been hatched from hell with no help from their mother or father. One bad apple might be understandable but for these characters to *all* have such demon children is weird. When we use quite with a non-gradable adjective or adverb (an extreme adjective or adverb has a maximum and/or minimum, for example right – wrong), it usually means ‘very’, ‘totally’ or ‘completely’: I’m terribly slow, actually, but at the moment I’m reading a book by Colette, My Apprenticeships and Music Hall Sidelights, I suppose because it’s got a theatrical thing going on. I like short stories – Patricia Highsmith’s The Animal-Lover’s Book of Beastly Murder is a favourite.

Not Quite Nice by Celia Imrie | Waterstones

This is Celia Imrie’s first fictional book – and she has done very well by allowing humour to take over the story at times without it descending into silliness. The lightness balances nicely with the more drama ridden topics of infidelity, sex-changes, homosexuality, drug use and criminal activity. I was often laughing out loud at some of the events – gasping at some more meatier ones and then getting angry at the behaviour of a plethora of offspring that come to get what they can out of their various parents – or think they have the right to be rude to a parent who stands firm against them. The overall message is – it is your life, your needs and your choice. Do not let your children emotionally bully you. Learn to say no when it doesn’t suit you to do what they want. Theresa is desperate for a change. Forced into early retirement and fed up with babysitting her bossy daughter's obnoxious children, she sells her house and moves to the picture-perfect town of Bellevue-sur-Mer, just outside Nice. I really enjoyed this book about the over sixties and seventies inhabitants of Bellevu Sur Mere. Although this was a light hearted read Celia managed to weave some dark threads in the tale. Including a con man, muggings, burglaries and card cloning. There was also one big storyline I definitely did not see coming.The witty and enchanting Nice series, from the well-loved actress and Sunday Times­-bestselling author Celia Imrie

Not Quite Nice (Bellevue-Sur-Mer, book 1) by Celia Imrie

When we use quite + a/an + adjective + noun it means the same as ‘a little or a lot but not completely’: We feel that Celia may have ‘borrowed’ the beginning of the book from ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ as her character in that goes to India to escape her demanding and ungrateful family. As Theresa settles to the gentle rhythm of seaside life she embraces her new-found friendships and freedom. However, life is never quite as simple as it seems and as skeletons start to fall out of several closets, Theresa begins to wonder if life on the French Riviera is quite as nice as it first appeared…The description of the town is excellent- the old buildings, narrow streets, steep steps, colours of flowers, contrast between sunlight and shadow. Familiar to anyone who has walked through a Mediterranean village, and to the author who dedicated the book “to my pals who brought me here to Nice, and to the city whose beauty saved and inspired me”. In this delightful story, Imrie gives the reader a cast of (mostly) charming characters: a widowed ex-actress, a pair of gay men, a narcissistic elderly woman with a flair for cutting remarks, an apparently loving American couple, an Australian lothario and his jealous wife, a timid mother and her bullying son, an ex-prisoner, a self-centred daughter and her three spoiled children, a long-absent hippy son, an over-achieving daughter and a mysterious woman who claims to be recuperating. Ugh. I’m so disappointed. I was so looking forward to reading this book, the first by Celia Imrie, one of my favourite actresses. I assumed it would be funny and feature older characters finding love. Older character romance is my favourite and so rarely done. There was also the promise of the French riviera and some feminist empowerment. I really enjoyed this light fluffy read – and can relate to feeling used and abused by a demanding selfish grown-up child who thinks that everything hubby and I worked hard for has to be handed to her on a platter. Sixty-year-old Theresa has one such child and when she is laid off from her job the thought of being an unpaid navvy for her daughter for her remaining years fills her with horror. So on impulse she buys a small house in the fictional town of Bellevue-sur-Mer just outside Nice in the south of France. So Theresa now lives not quite in the city of Nice and events that occur are not quite nice either – so I really appreciated the very clever title punning on the two meanings of ‘nice’..