George Cini’s Strada Stretta: It-triq li darba xegħlet il-Belt (Strada Stretta, the street that once breathed life into Valletta) has been reprinted after the first run sold out in a couple of weeks.

The publication has been met favourably both by the public and by various authors.

Opinion writer Claire Bonello in her column in this paper wrote: “If there was one gift that I enjoyed receiving (and was given in return), it was Strada Stretta by George Cini.

“I was bowled over by the book, which is a lively compendium of photographs and interviews with the personalities who lived and worked in the street… The author should be commended for compiling an oral history of this street”.

Writing also in The Sunday Times, veteran author and commentator Lino Spiteri opined: “In his wonderful book published by Allied Publications, Cini has captured the spirit of the place, still very much alive in the 1960s, through a series of striking interviews with some of the leading characters who peopled the Gut.”

Designed by Mediamaker, the book is animated with photographs that are being printed for the first time and with a series of vibrant watercolours by Paul Caruana.

Cini said he was overwhelmed by the response of the public.

“The grip that the book has had on readers is, perhaps, due to the fact that it chronicles the hardship and tough conditions that the people who worked and sweated in this notorious street went through.

“Yet in spite of this rough and tumble experience, they managed also to look at the bright side of life.

This spirit showed the resilience of the people who earned a living in Strait Street,” Cini said.

The book is available at leading booksellers, at Word for Word in Castille Place, Valletta, and online at books.timesof malta.com.

For more details, call George Cini on 9943 0578 or e-mail gcini@timesofmalta.com.