Rosemary Jones? latest book gives Bermuda?s visitors an insider?s look at Island life and attractions.

?Moon Bermuda? was released in October and is part of the Moon series of travel guides produced by the Avalon Publishing Group.

Mrs. Jones is also the author of ?Bermuda: Five Centuries? published in 2004 and her freelance work has appeared in countless newspapers and magazines.

?My editor at People had mentioned that Moon was looking for someone to write a Bermuda guide,? said Mrs. Jones. ?I put a proposal together and sent it to them and it was accepted.?

Writing the Bermuda guide was an ?elaborate extension? of Mrs. Jones? interest in travel and travel writing.

Her local perspective gave the guide a special flavour.

?I guess every place is unique, but Bermuda is hard to get to know even for people who live here,? she said. ?It takes time to really get to the core of what we are all about and what life here is like.?

In ?Moon Bermuda?, Mrs. Jones tried to go deeper than the usual Bermuda clich?s, pink sand, shorts and the triangle.

?These things really don?t describe who we are,? said Mrs. Jones. ?One of the things I wanted to achieve with this book was to paint Bermuda in a positive way. I wanted to try to get below the surface, to explain a little bit to foreign visitors, what the Island is like, and what living here is like.?

The book tries to delve into attractions, restaurants and places of interest that sometimes get missed by other guides or tourist brochures.

?The detail involved in writing something like this takes a lot,? she said. ?It is very time consuming. You try to be as accurate as possible. There is a lot of fact checking of telephone numbers, addresses and things like that.?

She said she enjoys the type of focus and context that a travel series demanded. ?It was particularly the kind of in-depth writing that I found very enjoyable,? she said. ?In the back portion of the book, there is quite a lot of material about the people of Bermuda, architecture. There is art, history, politics, which are good to write about. Even the bulk of the book is exploring the parishes. I tried to really explore that with as much detail and anecdote and description as possible. One of my key goals was not to have it read in any kind of tourist brochure style. I wanted it to be as truthful, genuine and helpful as possible. I hope that it is a useful guide.?

Mrs. Jones said some attractions and information were new to her, even though she has lived on the Island all her life.

?In your daily life, as with anywhere, you are in a geographic and social circle,? she said. ?I found that when you go out and explore every inch you find many, many things that you are not aware of.

?Visiting places and touring the Island, almost puts you in the frame of mind of a tourist and you do see things from their point of view. ?

Mrs. Jones said most of the guides in the Moon series are very detailed, contextual and use strong local knowledge.

?The writers who are selected for these projects have either grown up in the destination and are natives or are long-time residents,? she said. ?I really think it is impossible to write a guide like that without being local.?

She took close to a year to write the guide, with the bulk of the work done last winter.

One of her focuses in the guide is advice for people travelling with children. This is a subject that is dear to her heart as she has a five-year-old son, Gabriel. ?I have become very aware of what is out there and what is fascinating for kids to do in Bermuda,? she said. ?I really wanted to show how accessible Bermuda is to families. Traditionally, Bermuda has not marketed itself to families as a child-friendly destination, mainly because of the transport issues. If you can overcome those issues it is great. I think the public transport with buses and ferries really is improving. I have seen families have great vacations, having overcome that.

?So I really tried to highlight some of the great stuff there is to do with kids and with children.?

She said there are many parks, playgrounds and beaches in Bermuda that can be fun for children. She said wildlife like tree-frogs or fish can also interest kids.

Mrs. Jones? son Gabriel helped her to take some of the photographs in the book. All of the photographs in the book were taken by Mrs. Jones or her son except for the cover shot which was provided by Picturesque.

?Moon Bermuda? is available in local bookstores, and through American, Canadian and British bookstores.

?I haven?t done any book signings,? Mrs. Jones said. ?This was among the fall releases. The publisher has seasonal releases where they release several publication. This was among Caribbean destination guides. It is nice to have Bermuda as a separate guide, for sure.

This is Mrs. Jones first international publication.

?It is very rewarding to see your book on the shelf at some place like Barnes & Noble,? she said. ?It is very fulfilling. Occasionally, if I see it, I will rearrange it.?

She said she is proud, not just as a writer, but also as a Bermudian. ?The book is about Bermuda and it is written by a Bermudian,? she said. ?I am proud of that. I am hoping also that it sells well to visitors, but maybe there is also a market for relatives and friends of Bermudians who live here. This is a truthful realistic portrayal of Bermuda and therefore a useful guide to Bermuda.?