Bøker av Celia Imrie

London, 1944. The air raid sirens are blaring, the bombers are hovering. England has been at war with Germany for four years, and there's no sign of peace coming. Dot Gallagher, newly arrived from Liverpool to offer her services as a nurse, hurries from her Red Cross hostel to the tube station to join the crowds of people taking shelter. A group of GIs have started dancing around a wind-up gramophone, and it doesn't take long for Dot to join them. As she jives along with one of the American soldiers, he tells her about Rainbow Corner, a social club in Piccadilly for US troops. There is always a demand for dance hostesses there, women who know how to jitterbug and rock'n'roll, to dance with the soldiers. Would Dot like to apply?As Dot discovers, Rainbow Corner is like no other place, an oasis in London where, once inside, the constraints of wartime Britain disappear. There is no rationing, all luxuries are available, including a constant stream of donuts, chewing gum and cola. There are restaurants and cafes, boxing matches and movies, and, much to Dot's delight, a huge dance hall. Rather like an Embassy, Rainbow Corner is essentially a plot of America in central London.It is there that Dot becomes firm friends with many of the other hostesses, and in particular with Lilly, who works for the Colonel. Meet Me at Rainbow Corner follows the lives of Dot, Lilly and their friends, as they dance the nights away, fall in and out of love, and navigate the horrors of war. Lilly goes on a secret mission with her Colonel to France, and Dot becomes pregnant and returns to Liverpool. When the war is over, they are re-united, having travelled by boat to the US with countless other war brides to meet their repatriated fiancés again. Along the way, they uncover a case of inside espionage and learn the true meaning of love.

The new summer blockbuster by national treasure and Sunday Times bestselling author Celia Imrie: a heart-warming and page-turning story about a group of women working for GI soldiers during World War 2, a novel bursting with dancing and romance, thrills and jeopardy.

Somewhere on the French Riviera, tucked between glitzy Monte Carlo and Cannes'' red carpets, lies the sleepy town of Bellevue-Sur-Mer. Sheltered from the glittering melee, it is home to many an expat ¿ although it hasn''t proved as peaceful as expected.Now an enterprising band of retirees has resolved to show it''s never too late to start afresh and open a restaurant. Snapping up a local property and throwing themselves into preparations, Theresa, Carol, William and Benjamin''s plans are proceeding unnervingly well. But when Theresa encounters a mysterious intruder, she begins to wonder what secrets the building is concealing.Meanwhile Sally, an actress who fled the stage to live in quiet anonymity, has decided not to be involved. She''s far too busy anyway, shepherding around a gaggle of A-listers, including a suave Russian with a superyacht and a penchant for her company.

If you've been enjoying her latest novels Sail Away and Nice Work (If You Can Get It), do not miss Celia Imrie's fantastic original memoir The Happy Hoofer.'I've always been wilful ... I've always been stubborn and always determined.' One of our best-loved actresses, Celia Imrie would rather have been a dancer. As a child she planned to join the Royal Ballet and marry Rudolf Nureyev. Now she has become one of our finest and funniest performers, on stage, TV and screen - adored for her roles in Acorn Antiques and Dinnerladies, as well as films including Calendar Girls and Nanny McPhee.In her hugely entertaining autobiography, Celia Imrie recounts a life hurtling (not always intentionally) into adventures both on stage and off. Whether it's finding herself on stage with half the scenery stuck to her cardigan, or being kidnapped on her way to location. Somehow she emerges from the chaos that can lie in her wake almost unscathed. Acting, she admits, is a mad, chaotic profession and it is her refreshing honesty, sense of mischief, fun and almost unruffled determination in the face of it all that makes this autobiography a never-ending delight.