Montenegro’s Kotor Serpentine is a single-lane mountain road that snakes its way up 25 hairpin bends, a vertiginous drop on one side and a sheer cliff on the other. It offers breathtaking views of Kotor Bay, and all the way to Italy. Unfortunately, on the day we take this spectacular route, it is pouring. Thick fog is descending. All I can see is the terrifying canyon beside us and a bus lumbering in towards us. I’m suddenly regretting taking the scenic route to the coast. But what would a road trip be without challenges?
Julie Fison catapults readers into the murky and contested waters of love, morality and justice from the first page of One Punch and holds them, transfixed, right till the end. It’s a story that exposes the consequences of unconditional love; the cost and burden this delivers parents, their children and anyone caught in its more nefarious orbit. One Punch is a raw, urgent and chilling portrait of family loyalty and the frightening repercussions of being blind to the faults in those we love. Read this book and your conviction about what is right and wrong will be changed forever.
Sally Piper, Bone Memories
A cruise is the obvious choice for visiting the Adriatic, but Mr F and I are spending three weeks on the road. Since picking up a car in the Croatian port of Pula, we’ve driven through Slovenia, sipped sparkling rosé on the walls of Ljubljana Castle and rowed around the fairy tale church on Lake Bled. We’ve made our way through bear country to the magical Plitvice Lakes in Croatia. We’ve taken a car ferry from Split to Korcula Island, and spent five glorious days hanging out with friends in our own little olive grove by the sea. Think rocky coves, clear blue water, pomegranate trees laden with fruit, insects buzzing around ripe figs, and you’ve got the picture.
Now we’re in Montenegro, a country oozing with old-world charm and new money. After three days exploring the medieval town of Kotor, swimming in sea caves, venturing into disused submarine pens and admiring super yachts, we’re dicing with death on a mountain road.
Full credit to Mr F. He squeezes past buses and cars, avoids landslides and rogue dogs, and gets us all the way to the coast. There, we find Sveti Stefan, possibly the prettiest islet in the entire world. Definitely worth the white-knuckle ride.
By the time we reach our final destination – the breathtaking walled city of Dubrovnik, in Croatia, we’ve driven 1500 km and explored three countries. It’s been three weeks, but it feels like months. Something like a Gap Year. I know that’s for school leavers, but why should kids have all the fun?
Julie Fison 