What is the last divided capital city in the world? (The clue is Lawrence Durrell) And when is an island not an island?

A divided city is one split between two countries, like Berlin used to be between East and West Germany, for example.

The answer (give or take a Jerusalem) is Nicosia, the capital of both the Cyprus's. I'm reading about it now, in the gorgeous technicolour prose of Lawrence Durrell and I was there last summer, celebrating my birthday. I flew into the Greek side, and spent most of my time there, near Larnaca. Nicosia is a must-see, though. I arrived on the Greek side, on the bus, and wandered around until I came to blocked streets, like this,

 and ironic shop names, like this.

The area around is a no mans land of empty houses, and boarded, up, old buildings, that haven't been used, or lived in since the residents fled when the city was split up. It's an odd contrast to the rest of the island which often looks like this:

Or this, which is the view from the mosque in Larnaca

Or this, which is an ancient church, built by the Byzantines, about fifty yards away from the mosque.

Nicosia has its highlights, though, this is an ancient inn, which now serves as a restaurant and tourist centre. There are beautiful old streets, squares, and churches, everything built of this same, butter-coloured stone.

You cross the border, though, and everything is very different. The crossing sits in the middle of the main street, which is a bit odd. You get your passport stamped, and you pass into a place that has no official recognition in the world, except by Turkey. You walk through it a while, realising something is weird, but unable to put your finger on it until...

There are no western brands at all. Nothing. The Greek side is full of Starbucks, and Adidas, and McDonalds. The north side is a bit faded, the prices change from Euros to Turkish Lira, and not a single name is recognisable. The north of Cyprus doesn't exist, so nobody can do business there

The definitive book about Cyprus is this:

Lawrence Durrell wrote one of my favourite books of all time: The Alexandria Quartet. This is different, autobiographical, more real and more rushed. Mainly it tells me how much of Cyprus I missed. It describes it so beautifully, mountains from the distance, looking like tumbledown, ivy-covered walls, and haunted mosques hanging over the silken sea. It is an enchanted island. I shall go back, and get a car, and explore the villages and quiet coves.

I ate properly, squid and octopus on the sea front in Larnaka, and loukanikou and sheftalia on the terrace of a village bar. The main furniture of the terrace was a big, round table, where old men of the village played cards and shouted at one another. They all spoke English, learned in Kebab shops in Birmingham or Portsmouth. Still, Durrell tells me that I didn't eat enough, and I didn't try enough of the wine.

The last thing that Bitter Lemons tells me is the story of how the break happened. A blissful island sleepwalking towards disaster. Now, to go from one end of the High Street to the other you need one of these:

A visa. Because when is an island not an island? When it's two islands. Read the book, visit the island. Recommended. I'll be getting another visa.

Smart Mouth Waitress, Writing Teenage Girls who are REEEEAAALLL

I read a book because I came across the author on the Kindleboards Writer's Cafe and she seemed fairly awesome.

The author is Dalya Moon, who is much better known as Mimi Strong, author of grown up romance stories. The book I read is called 'Smart Mouth Waitress.' It has a couple of elements that I love, characters that are authentically realised in every direction, even ones that have nothing to do with the plot, and realistic (or real) locations that I can completely see and would completely go to.

The lead is Perry, the waitress of the title, and the setting is Saltwater City - a stand in for Vancouver. One of my favourite series ever is Tales of the City, which explored the same characters for book after book and year after year, just as much as the amazing city they lived in (San Francisco).

Smart Mouth Waitress in the second Salt Water City Book. Sadly I think it could also be the last, and there's no chance of 'Tales of Salt Water City.' These days Mimi Strong seems to be attracting a lot more attention than Dalya Moon.

So, standing alone, Perry is very cool. She's unconventional, speaks her mind, and has a lot to learn. Her story is kind of a coming of age. She's 18, but the story covers her first exploits with boys, plus day-to-day life at the I-wish-it-was-real cafe where she works and with her family and friends.

The only downside to this story, and it is very slight, is that we don't actually see enough of it. The author has a bit of a habit of letting Perry tell us about what happens after it has happened, rather than letting the characters show us events as they go along. This extends to most of the most important events in Perry's life, which happened before the story began, and the fact that at the end her life moves on a bit less than I expected.

That might just be me, though. It could well move on just as much as you expect. Give it a try. For sure the characterisation and dialogue are top-notch enough to make me properly jealous of Dalya's talent.

I recommend it:

There's Only One Digger Bongo

In my 'Christmas Post' I hinted at the stories I'm going to be releasing in 2015. Here's a bit more news.

The next four stories I'm going to publish will be for 8-12 year olds. The first three will be about the Bongo family, each one short, telling a story about one of the children. First out of the blocks - probably - will be the 4th child, Digger. Here he is, courtesy of artist Damien Hazell - who is designing the cover art for all four of the children's stories.

The fourth book is a full length children's novel, featuring entirely different characters, and kind of reflecting stories like the Famous Five, which I adored when I was small. It stars four very different children, who live on the same street in a small, very generic town in the UK. The book is about friendship, and mystery, and what happens when the most exciting parts of stories cross over into real life.

When that is released I'm going to turn my attention back to the Levels series. Each one of the existing four books will be relaunched, newly edited and with a new cover. There will be two more books, one that follows Song to Wake to, and one that follows 'Lullaby of Lies' and 'Reason to be Shy.' This last is the longest, most complicated story I've ever written and when I finish this post I'm going to get right back to it, editing for what feels like the twentieth time, in response to the genius comments of the brilliant Ruth Steven.

In the meantime, though, get ready to meet the irrepressible Digger Bongo and the bonkers Bongo family...