The Malta Tourism Authority might just have found a gemstone for their ‘Brand Malta’ campaign: a sparkler in the shape of a fiction book called Like Bees to Honey.
The book, written by British author Caroline Smailes, is based in Malta. Customer reviews on online shops are gushing and raving – most readers claim they’ve never been to Malta but the book has made them plan a holiday to the islands to eat pastizzi and drink Cisk. It’s certainly the best kind of advertising the MTA could ever wish for.
In Malta, word of mouth has pushed the sales of the book to topple even those of Dan Brown’s latest title – no mean feat in itself. It’s a book which everyone is falling in love with, perhaps understandably since the author herself says that Like Bees to Honey is “her love letter to Malta”.
I meet Smailes at the house of her grandmother’s brother in Birkirkara, while on a whirlwind tour to promote her book. It’s an old dark town house, very typical of the Maltese houses described in her book.
She’s sitting on the elegant sofa in the dim-lit sitting room, wearing flip-flops, a colourful skirt and a beach tee, very girl-next-doory, exuding warmth. The library unit behind her is strewn with framed photos. “That’s my mother,” points Smailes, ever so softspokenly.
She explains her strong Maltese connection: Her grandmother fell in love with a British serviceman during World War II and moved to Newcastle.
This sounds familiar, I tell her, isn’t this plot in the book? “Yes, their love story in the book happened for real. Theirs was such a profound pure love. This book is a tribute to them both.”
Her grandfather passed away last year, but the legacy of true love was passed on: “I believe there’s a soul mate out there for everyone, it’s a matter of finding each other,” she says.
Smailes, 36 and mother of three, knows Malta well. She spent practically all her childhood summers in Malta and her favourite word in Maltese is xugamani (towels).
“We’d come here for two months in summer and I used to feel I belonged. In England, because I’m dark and I had this funny accent which I got from spending a lot of time with my grandmother, I was bullied quite a lot. I always felt not quite Maltese and not quite British.” The book imparts her perennial search for identity.
It’s a magical tale of family, redemption and ghosts. It revolves around Nina, a young Maltese lady, who was disowned by her Maltese family for falling pregnant while at university in England. With her son in tow, she flies to Malta to see her aging parents. But Malta, it turns out, is a transit lounge where souls come to heal.
The inspiration for Malta as a healing place came through firsthand experience. As a result of bullying, she suffered from depression when growing up – but her trips to Malta were a salve.
“It’s like, every time, it was a spiritual pilgrimage. The sun and sea … they wash away all the troubles, don’t they? And in Malta everywhere you go you’re so well taken care of and you’re always being fed…” she laughs.
The book is a refreshing change from prose which waxes lyrical about Malta. Smailes describes it as it is: the clammy weather, the crazy bus drivers, the characteristic smells.
“The senses on the island are very particular – it’s like the blast of heat that engulfs you the minute you step of the plane when you land in Malta. Or the taut feeling of the skin after a day at the beach, everything is so distinctive,” she said.
One of the main protagonists in Like Bees to Honey is Jesus. But certainly not as we know him. Smailes’ Jesus is a Cisk lover, has painted toe-nails, a preference for low hung jeans and is constantly winking.
It’s a very original take – was she scared some readers might be offended? “I was absolutely terrified. Especially as I was following the ongoing censorship saga over here. I honestly didn’t want to offend anyone but I went for a fresh approach of this man. For example, he is continuously attempting to get drunk, but through that I just wanted to show that he can’t be controlled by anyone, else not even alcohol,” she said.
It is very clear that she gives a lot of thought to the slightest detail in her writing. “In fact, I’m very difficult to live with when I write because I get in the character. I have to snap out of it by going for long walks.”
She is kept awake at night by worry and fear: “I worry that through my writing I’m tempting fate, you know especially when I write about kids,” she trails off and leans to touch the wooden table.
But she feels lucky that she is doing what she always wanted to do. Smailes only took the plunge to start writing five years ago, after she quit her ‘secure’ lecturing job.
“I decided to speak my dream. A big risk. I didn’t want to be someone who talked of ‘nearly’ having done something. I wanted to see if I could write novels and tell stories.” Within a year she was offered a publishing contract.
“So that is the most important lesson that life has taught me: Believe in your wishes and follow your dreams,” she said, as she goes on to explain that she has a two-book deal with her publishing house and Malta will also feature in her next one. “It will be a stand alone book but Molly, Nina’s daughter in Like Bees to Honey will be the central character,” she reveals.
Should Like Bees to Honey be ever turned to a film, she’d like Johnny Depp to play Jesus. There is no hesitation in her answer.
“As you can see, I’ve already thought about it in my mind. And Tilly would be played by Helena Bonham Carter.” Sounds like a job for Tim Burton then. Then the MTA would be delirious with happiness.