So what is it that makes Bermuda special?

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23: Doing a number of UK press interviews about my novel ‘My Bermuda Namesakes’ has been a fascinating experience.

Set on the island, the story is written from the perspective of the main character, Josie James, (known as JJ), who arrives on the island to recuperate after a road accident leaves her with short term memory problems.

She then gets wrongly accused of a crime and has to prove her innocence in the face of overwhelming evidence putting her at the scene.

With a short term memory shot to pieces — where does the truth lie?

Inevitably there are two questions from interviewers. ‘What is Bermuda like?’ and ‘Have you seen Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas?’

The answer to the latter is an easy ‘no’. As for what is the island like, it has been surprisingly difficult to sum up Bermuda in a few words.

How to answer? I returned to the UK in April after spending the best part of a year living on the island. It gives me a bit more insight than the average visitor but still leaves a lot to learn about this complex small piece of the world. So with this in mind, here goes…

From a visitor point of view, Bermudians have a tendency to talk themselves both up and down to extremes — endearing and infuriating at the same time.

When the talk is about crime figures, the island ‘going downhill’, bad manners, rude youngsters and so on, you have to smile.

Compared to most of the world Bermuda is still relatively safe, polite and a fair number of people greet visitors with a ‘Good Morning/Afternoon.’

Even the younger people —they really do. Yet sometimes there is a cringe-inducing tendency to aggrandisement with the assumption that Bermuda is the absolute centre of the universe.

It’s the classic small island syndrome and the guilty parties really do need to get over themselves.

As for the thorny subject of island tourism, fashions come and go — and then come back all over again. Bermuda has had its ‘heyday’ and has more recently lost out to bigger, brasher markets including some Caribbean islands. Yet find the market niches, get the pricing right and people will start to make their way back.

Well-priced restorative short breaks for east coast Americans, hotel and guest house deals which are simple and not laden with extra taxes/gratuities, medical recuperation, more music events on the scale of the successful John Lennon tribute concert last summer — it’s there for the taking.

Reading about the recent Bermuda election from thousands of miles away really has been an eye opener. One look at the online discussion forums shows how race still is a huge factor when it comes to voting.

There are signs that this is starting to change but for someone who was brought up in a large multicultural city in England and coming from a minority background, (my parents were born in Ireland), the extent of racial polarisation in Bermuda is intriguing.

No one should forget past injustices and battles but there has to come a time to shift the debate forward.

As the saying goes — ‘that was then but this is now’.

To sum up the island’s biggest strength, it has to be the people. For its size, Bermuda packs a real talent punch from performers, educators, writers, painters, musicians and sports people.

There is a lot to be proud about and one of these talented people is a young man called De’Jon Simons, who I’m now mentoring from afar. His artistic talent is there for all to see and this is all the more admirable given his extensive burn injuries.

So there you have it. Judging from the reader feedback and reviews so far, the book descriptions have made readers want to visit. It’s certainly isn’t a sugary sweet version of the island but hopefully it has some authenticity — pink sand with just a touch of grit.

• Maggie Fogarty is a UK based TV producer and journalist who recently spent a year living in Bermuda. Her debut novel ‘My Bermuda Namesakes’ is available on Amazon.