Malta Surrendered: The Doublet Memoirs

by Joe Scicluna

Ever since the Great Siege of 1565, Malta became known as the impregnable island. It was the home of the Knights of St John, that highly admired Christian army formed of the upper crust of Europe's nobility. And yet, when Napoleon's fleet turned up at its shores in June 1798, the knights were in a state of disarray. They were incapable of planning or executing a credible defence strategy, much to Europe's amazement. It was difficult to conceive how centuries of glorious victories could culminate in the disgraceful banishment that followed the surrender of Malta.

These are the memoirs of Pierre-Jean Doublet who was then the Grand Master's secretary for the French Langue. He witnessed the events as they unfolded and left a detailed account of what took place and what, in his view led to such an unpredictable outcome.

In this book Joe Scicluna has rendered a great service to his homeland by translating from French to English these memoirs on the French invasion of Malta.

376 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 1863

About the author

Born and raised on the island of Malta, Joe Scicluna has lived most of his life in the southeast of France, in the town of Grenoble nestled in the Alps. He draws a sense of balance from the stark contrast between this mountainous region and the sunbaked Mediterranean island which he still calls home. "As I get older, the more passionate I am becoming about the culture and the heritage of the Maltese islands" says Joe. It is precisely this passion that motivated him to publish his first two books which were translations from French of eyewitness accounts during the period of Napoleon's invasion and the subsequent occupation in 1798. Following on this same theme, Joe Scicluna has just launched his latest book which is a historical novel set in the early 19th century during the first years of Malta's British rule. The book, titled "Ricasoli Soldier" was inspired by true, but little-known, events that took place in 1807. Joe wants his readers to learn about Malta and what the Maltese lived through during those years of tumultuous change by means of this true but gripping story packed with suspense

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read especially for us Maltese. Very interesting book.

[Aaron Gatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intresting read. It gets into the details of what was exactly going on during a most significant turning point of Maltese history.