NP new Malta-related book

[pynchonoid]

Book of the Day: Ironfire by David Ball

The island of Malta may be best known as the home to
the legend of the
Maltese Falcon, a story perpetrated by mystery writer
Dashiell Hammett
in his Sam Spade mystery novel of the same name. In
the film version
of novel, starring Humphrey Bogart, the legend opens
the movie,
scrolling up the screen, reading:

"In 1539, the Knights Templar of Malta, paid tribute
to Charles V of
Spain, by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from
beak to claw with
rarest jewels. . .but pirates seized the galley
carrying this

priceless token and the fate of the Maltese Falcon
remains a mystery
to this day."

Sadly the story is mere legend, or so says David Ball,
who has spend
nearly four years researching his historical novel,
Ironfire
(Delacorte, $24.95). Subtitled "A Novel of the Knights
of Malta and
the Last Battle of the Crusades," the book charts the
paths four
distinct characters in the years leading up to the
siege of Malta by
the Ottoman Empire of Sulieman the Magnificent
(nicknamed "The
Possessor of Men's Necks") in 1565. During that
battle, 600 Knights
and 9,000 Maltese defended the island citadel against
40,000 Turkish
soldiers, eventually killing some 30,000 of them. It
was the last
significant battle of the Crusades.

The main part of Ball's novel recounts the story of
Nico, a Maltese
boy who is kidnapped from the island, sold into
slavery in Algiers,
taken to Istanbul and forced to convert from
Christianity to Islam.
Through twists and turns of fate, he ends up leading
the Ottoman fleet

against his homeland.

Ball told PW Daily his plot is drawn directly from
history. "This is
how Sulieman populated his empire. By promoting
outsiders to the
highest ranks of his society and military, as he does
with Nico, he
guarantees there is no conflict with family." Ball
also said that he
thinks the themes of Christian and Muslim conflict
mirror current
issues. "One of the most important elements in the
book is that Nico,
contrary to his upbringing, discovers that Islam is
not an evil
religion," says Ball.

It's no surprise that Ball cites Herman Wouk's War and
Remembrance and
James Clavell's Shogun as influences. PW Forecasts
found a veritable
miniseries in the book, writing, "Ball's bold,
gruesome descriptions
convincingly evoke the savagery of this 16th-century
religious war and
the treachery and zealotry of Muslim and Christian
authorities alike."
This is historical fiction at its best: dramatic,
sweeping, and
detailed.


So what is the true story of the Maltese falcon? For
that you'll just
have to read the book.--Edward Nawotka

from:
PW Daily for Booksellers (Friday, January 30, 2004)   
                                      

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