Description
Book SynopsisIt is 1942 and the island of Malta is under siege by the dominant German air force. Out of the smoke and magnesium glare of bomb blast steps Rocco Raven, native of Brooklyn, New York, apprentice radioman and expert secondhand car dealer. His only contact is an American secret serviceman, Fingerley, whose rank upgrades with their every meeting and whose purpose is known to no-one but himself. Far from finding a role for Rocco, Fingerley leaves him to face the chaos alone. On only his second day there, his billet, on the top floor of a brothel, is blown to pieces. Without contacts or belongings, Rocco is left to wander the devastated streets of Valetta in a bewildered daze until he sees an apparition, a beautiful, ethereal woman. She is Melita, the Jukebox Queen of Malta, who spends her time delivering the jukeboxes wrought by her cousin from old automobile and gramophone parts to the bars and restaurants which must accommodate the beleagured civilian and military populations. I
Trade Review
'Under the heat and the hammering of bombs, Rinaldi paints the essence of the Second World War in exciting miniature' -- David Hughes * Mail on Sunday *
'Much to enjoy...Rinaldi has tremendous fun evoking the rich cultural pudding that was Malta in 1942, its weird combination of superstition, fatalism and grafted-on anglophilia, of ricotta and stiff upper lip' -- Patrick Gale * Daily Telegraph *
'Funny, romantic, disturbing...A marvellous tapestry of war...Moving and satisfying' * The New York Times *
'A beguiling, romantic story in an illuminating and surprising setting' -- Joseph Heller
