Kilin's gripping novel

The latest novel by Kilin (M.C. Spiteri), Tinsiex, Publius Tinsiex! (published by Klabb Kotba Maltin), is such a gripping book it is unputdownable.

A semi-historical novel, the historical substratum is narrated in the Acts of the Apostles. Yet the fictitious side of the novel is so plausibly like the history of the early Maltese Christian community! It makes you feel St Luke should have described the events in his Acts of the Apostles and you expect St Paul to refer to some of the personalities mentioned in the novel in one of his famous conclusions to his many letters. No wonder Kilin felt he had to offer his apologies to Paul and Luke! Yet it required the fertile imagination of a man like Kilin to produce such a gripping story.

There are many other characteristics that enhance Kilin's novel. His beautiful, simple style and his choice of language are now a by-word. These remind one of the simplicity of a Temi Zammit or a George Zammit. Like them he is able to use short sentences and beautiful Maltese phraseology.

Kilin is consistent in his writings and has proved once more that he is able to repeat what he did in all his publications: choice of words, non- borrowed Maltese phrases and short, simple sentences. These characteristics make you feel part of the life he is describing, even though he is painting scenes which could have taken place 2,000 years ago! You become familiar with the characters he describes so vividly.

His descriptions are not pedantic at all. You do not find in Kilin the long, tedious descriptions used by other writers. Kilin uses dialogue to provide the descriptions he needs. He is a master at creating dialogue.

His story progresses without any effort and the scenery is depicted with an economy of strokes of colour. Each character is described and developed as he dialogues with the other characters of the novel.

The easy dialogue between the characters grips your imagination and helps you visualise the situations as they develop. All the details, whether they are descriptions of personal situations or of places where the events are supposed to have taken place, emerge as they converse with each other.

There is ingenuity in his creating new names for localities in Malta. It should not be difficult for a Maltese reader to recognise and identify the places mentioned in the novel. This characteristic is evident also in his ability to create meaningful names for his protagonists: thus one word is enough to describe a person.

A characteristic of Kilin is his ability to use short chapters. I do not think any chapter is longer than five pages in this new novel. This makes for easy and pleasant reading. Situations develop in a smooth progression towards the unexpected climax and conclusion of the novel.

I do not wish to give away the story before one reads it and so I stop here, hoping to read more and more of Kilin's contributions to Maltese literature. Thank you again, Kilin, and God bless you.