Bitter Lemons is an autobiographical work by writer Lawrence Durrell, describing the three years (1953–1956) he spent on the island of Cyprus. The book was awarded the Duff Cooper Prize for 1957, the second year the prize was awarded.

Durrell moved to Cyprus in 1953, following several years spent working for the British Council in Argentina and the Foreign Office in Yugoslavia. Having relinquished government employment, Durrell wanted to plunge himself once more into writing, and was looking to return to the Mediterranean world he had experienced in Corfu and Rhodes. He had hoped that he would be able to purchase a house in an affordable location and write. Although Durrell must have experienced personal difficulties—his wife, Eve, was undergoing treatment for mental illness and had left him in charge of his young daughter, Sappho (born 1951)—the book does not mention these people or incidents, aside from a few oblique references to his daughter.

In 1956, he abandoned his home on the island and left Cyprus very rapidly for a very brief residence in the UK, quickly relocating to France for the remaining three decades of his life. Durrell later returned to discussions of Cyprus in 1974, in an article in the Daily Mail, but he otherwise said little about Cyprus after his departure.

Kate Marie Nash (born 6 July 1987) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. She had a UK number-2 hit "Foundations" in 2007, followed by the platinum-selling UK number-1 album Made of Bricks. She was named Best Female Artist at the 2008 BRIT Awards.

Her second studio album, entitled My Best Friend Is You, was released in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2010 and in the U.S. on 11 May 2010. It spawned her second biggest chart hit to date, the single "Do-Wah-Doo".

Nash is currently signed to The Island Def Jam Motown Ireland Group.

Nash was born on 6 July 1987 in Harrow, London to an English father, Steven Nash, and an Irish mother, Marie (née Walsh). Marie is a nurse in a hospice. Nash learned to play the piano while at at Sandbach School. She was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended St. John Fisher School, Pinner, before moving onto the St Joan of Arc Catholic School, Rickmansworth. She was also taught guitar by Saskia van Berkel and studied Theatre at the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in South London. She auditioned at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, but was rejected. Soon afterward, she fell down a flight of stairs, breaking her foot. During her recovery, she was housebound and unable to move, so her mother bought her an electric guitar. Nash used this time to focus on her songwriting: she began to write some new songs, finish old ones and decided that she would book a gig at a local bar ("Trinity") in Harrow to showcase her songs.^{[citation needed]}