Bitter Lemons of Cyprus is Lawrence Durrell's unique account of his time in Cyprus during the 1950s Enosis movement for freedom of the island from British colonial rule Winner of the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize it is a document at once personal poetic & subtly political
- a masterly combination of travelogue memoir & treatise ' He writes as an artist as well as a poet; he remembers colour & landscape & the nuances of peasant conversation Eschewing politics it says more about them than all our leading articles In describing a political tragedy it often has great poetic beauty' Kingsley Martin New Statesman' Durrell possesses exceptional qualifications He speaks Greek fluently; he has a wide knowledge of modern Greek history politics & literature; he has lived in continental Greece & has spent many years in other Greek islands His account of this calamity is revelatory moving & restrained It is written in the sensitive & muscular prose of which he is so consummate a master' Harold Nicolson Observer