5–6 September 2026
Monaco Book Fair
Nicholas Hugo will present Hôtel Ponchette. Programme and information are available on the fair’s website.
Visit the fair ↗Writer
Nicholas Hugo
Intelligent adventure comedies
Humour, suspense, elegance — and the pleasure of discovering more.
Discover the novel
The new novel
Hôtel Ponchette
In French bookshops from 30 October 2026
A house. A fraud. The world’s largest residential ship.
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Poq, dreams of turning his house on Les Ponchettes into a hotel. To finance it, he sells the property as a life annuity. A serious mistake: the buyers are professional fraudsters, and their seller stubbornly refuses to die.
What follows is an adventure as funny as it is unpredictable, set in the heart of Nice and far beyond, populated by larger-than-life characters, exhilarating catastrophes and Niçoise cuisine.
An intelligent adventure comedy somewhere between Louis de Funès and Molière.
Nice
A setting that becomes a character.
The lanes, terraces, conversations and encounters of Old Nice naturally find their way into the novels.
The city is more than a backdrop. It shapes the rhythm, the light and sometimes even the initial spark.
A world within the novel
The Universe
The world’s largest floating city.
On board The Universe, Poq encounters billionaires, icons, eccentrics, criminals… and the ship’s Michelin-starred chef, determined to wrest from him the secret of his celebrated lemon tart.
But one question remains: will Poq make it back to Nice before it is too late?
Back to the novelThe unexpected extra
Poq’s Lemon Tart
The recipe for Poq’s ultimate lemon tart is included in the novel — extending the adventure into the kitchen.
The world of Nicholas Hugo
The pleasure of discovering more.
Nicholas Hugo creates worlds in which anything seems possible at any moment — populated by eccentric characters, intelligent humour and countless cultural discoveries.
“I want to reward my readers for their curiosity, their intelligence and their pleasure in discovery.”
Writer
Nicholas Hugo
Nicholas Hugo writes adventure comedies in which humour, suspense and elegance meet.
Author of more than twenty books, also published under various pseudonyms, he now divides his life between Germany and Old Nice. The Mediterranean and its unforgettable characters feed an imagination in which every journey can become an adventure.
Agenda
Events
2–4 October 2026
Mouans-Sartoux Book Festival
A literary event devoted to Hôtel Ponchette. Programme and information are available on the festival website.
Visit the festival ↗Contact
Press, appearances and rights
For press enquiries, readings, appearances and rights, please contact Les Éditions Ovadia.
Les Éditions Ovadiac/o Nicholas Hugo
37–41 Boulevard Dubouchage
06000 Nice, France
+33 (0) 4 93 92 00 12Les Éditions Ovadia website