Seven days, a carefully planned holiday, and a small Mediterranean town that has other ideas.
I've published a book.
It's called A Week in Menton: A Novella by the Sea, and it's a short, illustrated work of fiction set in Menton, a beautiful little town on the French Riviera, right next to the Italian border.
It's now available on Amazon in both Kindle and illustrated paperback editions.
Read A Week in Menton on Kindle Get the illustrated paperback on Amazon
But this isn't just a standalone book. It's also the beginning of a larger idea connecting storytelling, travel, local history, and a project I've been building at AzurMenton.
Let me explain.
Meet Alex. He Has a Plan for Everything.
Alex is thirty-eight, works in exhibition project management, and is exceptionally good at organising things.
Deadlines, contractors, schedules, last-minute problems. He's the person everyone calls when something needs fixing.
Unfortunately, he's become rather good at organising his own life into something resembling an endless project.
So when he decides to spend a week alone in Menton, he does what any sensible, slightly exhausted project manager would do.
He creates an itinerary.
Restaurants are researched. Walking routes are saved. Train journeys have alternatives. There are even plans for what to do if it rains.
And then he arrives.
He gets lost carrying groceries. Buys entirely too much olive oil. Discovers that the apartment's coffee machine requires capsules rather than the ground coffee he's purchased. Orders the wrong breakfast. Somehow ends up with more lemons than he knows what to do with.
And that's just the beginning.
Over seven days, Alex meets people who aren't particularly interested in his plans. There's Claire, who runs a picture-framing workshop; Nadia, who works at the café where he gradually learns how to order breakfast; Élise, who explains how to make lemon pasta without providing anything resembling precise measurements; and Elena, whom he meets after unexpectedly leaving a train before reaching Nice.
None of them sets out to change his life.
And that's rather the point.
A Story About the Things That Don't Make It onto an Itinerary
I didn't want to write a book about a dramatic transformation.
No grand revelation. No sudden decision to abandon everything and open a café by the sea. No improbable romance that resolves all of life's difficulties in the final chapter.
I wanted something quieter.
A story about a person gradually discovering that an enjoyable day doesn't necessarily require a successful plan.
That helping someone doesn't mean taking control of their problem. That not seeing every attraction isn't a failure. That a conversation with a stranger might matter more than the museum you never reached.
And that sometimes, sitting by the sea without checking your phone is quite enough.
The book has a gentle sense of humour, a little melancholy, and a fairly substantial number of croissants, lemons, and minor administrative difficulties.
It's meant to be an easy, enjoyable read. Something you might open on a train to the Riviera, on a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean, or after dinner when you have absolutely no intention of doing anything productive.
Why Menton?
The setting isn't accidental.
I've been working on AzurMenton, a website built around stays in Menton and practical information about the town and the surrounding Riviera.
Alongside accommodation information, I've been developing a growing collection of local guides covering beaches, markets, restaurants, walks, transport, day trips, cultural places, and seasonal events.
The more I worked with this material, the more I realised there was another way to present the same place.
A practical guide tells you where to go, what to see, and how to organise your visit.
A story can make you want to be there.
It can give a street, a café table, or a particular view an emotional meaning that a list of recommendations never quite captures.
And Menton is a good setting for that kind of story.
It's colourful without being overwhelming. Beautiful without demanding constant attention. You can spend a morning exploring the old town, take a train along the coast, browse the market, or simply sit by the water.
The town works particularly well when you allow yourself not to do everything.
Which, of course, is precisely what Alex struggles to understand.
The Real Places Behind the Fiction
Although the characters and their businesses are fictional, several important locations in the book are real.
Alex walks along the Promenade du Soleil, finds his way through Rue Saint-Michel, visits the covered market, and eventually climbs towards the Basilica of Saint-Michel-Archange.
One of the central episodes takes him to Villefranche-sur-Mer, when a carefully planned trip to Nice turns into something completely different.
These aren't simply famous places inserted into a novel as decorative references. They're part of the story's geography and rhythm.
The book also includes a short section called Places Behind the Story, introducing the real locations that appear in Alex's journey.
And I have another idea for it.
I'm developing a companion walking guide on AzurMenton. Readers will be able to explore the actual places behind the fictional story, see photographs, find them on a map, and plan their own version of the experience.
It won't require following Alex's seven days exactly.
That would rather defeat the purpose of the book.
Explore Menton's travel guides on AzurMenton
Walk the places behind A Week in Menton on AzurMenton
Five Black-and-White Illustrations
I also wanted the physical book to feel a little different from an ordinary text-only paperback.
So it includes five black-and-white illustrations inspired by the story's locations and atmosphere: a balcony overlooking Menton, the covered market, a train journey along the coast, a rainy picture-framing workshop, and a café terrace.
The illustrations use a consistent fine-line, pen-and-ink style, deliberately contrasting with the bright, colourful cover.
I like the idea of opening a small paperback during a holiday and occasionally finding a full-page illustration that invites you to stop reading for a moment and simply look.
It feels appropriate for this particular story.
The Beginning of AzurBooks
A Week in Menton is also the first title in a wider publishing project I've called AzurBooks.
The idea is to build a collection of books connected to Menton and the French Riviera.
Not all of them will be fiction.
Some will explore the town's history, the people who lived or worked here, and the cultural stories behind familiar places. Others will be short, character-driven narratives like this one, written for people who want something enjoyable to read before, during, or after their holiday.
I'm interested in books that are approachable, well-researched where the subject requires it, and pleasant to read. Not enormous volumes that feel like homework.
The plan is to release new titles periodically and give the collection a permanent home on AzurMenton.
For now, A Week in Menton is the first published title. The rest of the collection is still being developed.
And a Free, Living Guide to Menton
There's another part of the project that will remain free.
I'm working on a downloadable Menton guide built from the growing collection of articles and event information on AzurMenton.
Unlike a traditional travel ebook, which gradually becomes outdated, the intention is to refresh this guide regularly as new articles appear, practical information changes, and upcoming events are updated.
The goal is straightforward: give visitors a useful reference they can save before travelling and consult while they're in town.
The free guide and the paid books will serve different purposes.
One helps you navigate a real holiday.
The others give you something interesting or enjoyable to read around it.
I think they can complement each other without trying to become the same product.
The downloadable guide and the broader AzurBooks collection are still works in progress. I'll share more as they take shape.
A Small Book, and Hopefully the First of Several
After spending so much time working with websites, tools, interfaces, and digital products, I rather enjoyed approaching something from a different direction.
A book doesn't need to explain every feature. It doesn't need a dashboard or a settings panel. It doesn't need to persuade the reader to click anything every thirty seconds.
It needs a story worth following.
I hope A Week in Menton offers exactly that: a few hours of pleasant company, some dry humour, a Mediterranean atmosphere, and perhaps a reminder that not every good experience needs to be planned in advance.
A Week in Menton: A Novella by the Sea is available now on Amazon.
Buy the Kindle edition Buy the illustrated paperback
You can also explore AzurMenton and its local travel guides to discover the real town behind the story.
And if you eventually visit Menton, perhaps leave a little room in your itinerary for absolutely nothing.
Alex would probably find that difficult.
But he'd understand why.
Anton Biletskyi-Volokh
Author of A Week in Menton. Creator of ABVX, AzurMenton, and the AzurBooks publishing project.