Novel · A way to begin
Ineż Farruġ
Not translated into English
Anton Manwel Caruana · 1889
Synopsis
Malta, in the fifteenth century, under Spanish rule. On a whim, Don José has Ineż abducted and takes her off the island, leaving her fiancé Ġużeppi at a loss. It is his friend Wenzu who, on the strength of a few words overheard from a slave, embarks on a long series of adventures to find her. The narrative also brings to life the society of the harbour districts, and mingles love, fidelity, betrayal and sacrifice.
Context
Written in 1888 and published in 1889, the novel is regarded by the University of Malta as the first literary novel in Maltese; other histories of literature reserve this title for Elvira, a novel by a Neapolitan professor whose date, 1863, remains uncertain. The author sets Maltese identity against that of the foreigners who dominate the island. A study of romantic culture in Malta reads in it, under the fifteenth century, the customs of the port suburbs of the nineteenth.
Who it is for
A historical novel in Maltese, full of adventures and twists, whose recent editions read easily.
Prizes and reception
The Klabb Kotba Maltin reissued it in 2001, and it is studied in the university's Maltese courses.
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