MALTA’S WARTIME TRIALS

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33448, 1 February 1974, Page 20

MALTA’S WARTIME TRIALS

The Kappillan of Malta. By Nicholas Monsarrat. Cassell. 427 pp.

“The Kappillan of Malta” is unquestionably Nicholas Monsarrat's greatest book. Father Salvatore, the main character, will be enshrined in the hearts of men who will, if comparisons are made, recall St Francis of Assisi or Pope John XXIII rather than fictitious creations. Noble of birth, humble in demeanour, and persevering in travail, Father Salvatore, the Kappillan, who lived amongst and cared for Malta’s people driven to live in the catacombs by the terrible bombing of World War 11, typifies all that is good in mankind. By means of sermons extraordinary, Dun Salv as he was more familiarly known, recalled the past history of Malta which was old when the first settlers, the Phoeniceans, arrived.

Whenever the occasion warranted such methods, the priest rallied his people with accounts of previous momentous events in the island’s long history. The characterisation is excellent while the several themes link harmoniously together. Malta’s wartime trials have been told before but never so starkly. Mr Monsarrat has contrived to involve the reader utterly in Malta’s hideous, daily battering, the islanders near starvation when supplies failed to arrive, and the faith and courage which inspired men and women to live when death would have been a welcome release. The author tells afresh the epic story of the largest fleet ever to sail with essential stores for the beleaguered island . . . 14

merchantmen with a naval escort comprising 54 ships . . . only five ships delivered their cargoes. It is timely that Mr Monsarrat should remind the democratic world of the immense debt it owes to the valiant islanders. One hopes readers will discern the reality behind the fiction