The Malta Independent on Sunday
Maltese author’s global acclaim
Readers across the world were recently alerted to the impressive talent of Maltese writers when The Sheriff’s Catch, debut novel of prolific Maltese expat writer James Vella-Bardon, was named “Must-read of the week” by The Scotsman, which also proclaimed the Maltese author as “the new king of historical fiction”.
As a result, Vella-Bardon’s debut was noted by other leading outlets, with US best-selling consumer magazine Reader’s Digest
calling it “sensational” and publications like The London Economic
praising its “sheer quality, historical integrity and emotional resonance”.
Vella-Bardon’s award-winning debut also features a Malteseborn and bred protagonist, Abel de Santiago, who enlists in the army of Imperial Spain. Santiago is subsequently forced to join the
Spanish Armada, only to find himself shipwrecked in Ireland, where he is hunted down by English troopers called Sassenachs, who want him tortured and killed. Along the way Santiago unwittingly rescues an Irish princess, with the unlikely pairing forced to reach the territory of Irish rebels in the north of Irish Connacht.
2022 has been a year of impressive output by the Maltese writer, who claims that he feels “like a bat out of pure Covid lockdown hell”. On 15 July his new publisher Tearaway Press published a masterful audio book of The Sheriff’s Catch, narrated by the leading UK narrator of historical fiction, Jonathan Keeble, who famously read Bernard Conwell’s highly popular book The Last Kingdom.
This audiobook was also preceded by a stirring standalone novella named Mad King Robin, which features Vella-Bardon’s favourite historical figure Robert the Bruce. This punchy story bristles with face-melting intensity, as it describes one of the most famous David vs Goliath clashes in military history, in which a vastly outnumbered Scottish force stood up to the largest English army to ever march onto foreign soil.
While possessing the raw power of a Conn Iggulden title, it contains a humane sensibility found in works by the likes of Diana Gabaldon, as it also takes a profound look at the lot of Bruce’s wife, Elizabeth de Burgh. Elizabeth is forced to survive a dangerous confinement by her husband’s enemies, while desperately clinging to a seemingly impossible hope of freedom, shared by her husband’s oppressed people.
Its predecessor, Mad King Robin, also proved a smash hit on international online book club The Pigeonhole, with over 200 readers from around the world signing up to read its serialisation. Gail Wylde, a reader based in the UK, took to Goodreads to describe it as “Another fast paced, heart-stopping insight into periods of history brought to life with James’ brilliant writing” and Wales’ Rebecca James, founder of a popular Ken Follett Facebook Group declaring “Mad King Robin is the best book I’ve read this year” in her Amazon review. Popular Maltese actor Chris Dingli even hopped onto Amazon to state “I read this book in a single sitting”.
Vella-Bardon also treated The Pigeonhole’s readers to a surprise read of a short story prequel to Mad King Robin which he also wrote this year, entitled The Cream of Chivalry. This story explains how the Bruce went from being king of Scotland to the “outlaw king” recently popularised in a recent Netflix series. It is also available for free to readers who sign up to Vella-Bardon’s newsletter on his website homepage.
When asked about his feelings for Malta, the expat was effusive in his affection for his country of birth. “It’s the place that gave me my passion for literature and history; it’s the place that first acknowledged my writing, the place that first made me a bestselling author.”
Vella-Bardon has not yet forgotten how his debut unexpectedly climbed to third place on Agenda Bookshop’s national bestseller list in English, even outselling titles by John Grisham, an author much loved by the Maltese reading public, as well as Pope Francis, at the time.
Vella-Bardon is also hoping that the Maltese reading public will enjoy his standalone novella Mad King Robin, currently being stocked by Maltese bookshops in the wake of his international acclaim, as well as the long-awaited sequel to Santiago’s first adventure, A Rebel North, which will be internationally released this month on 12 August.
For more information visit www.jamesvellabardon.com