[attach id=239610 size="medium"][/attach]
Strada Stretta: It-Triq li Darba Xegħlet il-Belt, is now available in English.
The book comes with an identical cover to the original, but is in slightly smaller format to make it more handy.
The translation by George Cini, who also wrote the original, bears the title Strait Street: The Gut which for many years lit up Valletta.
In a foreword to the book, Prof. Carmel Cassar, from the Institute of Tourism, Travel and Culture at the University of Malta, notes that a few years back, while having lunch at one of the older Cambridge colleges in England, he was introduced to an elderly gentleman.
“He asked where I came from and without any hesitation, I answered that I grew up in Valletta. He added that despite the many visits to the island, he will never forget his first night on the island. It goes way back to the late 1950s, when he was in the company of an older friend who was somehow addicted to The Gut. Although thoroughly enjoying his first night in Malta down Strait Street, my new friend admitted that this first night was a shock.
“It was a night spent singing, drinking and eating, in the company of genuine music and dance lovers, among men and women of dubious repute, and a multitude of soldiers and sailors of several nationalities… It never occurred to me that, during lunch at one of the oldest colleges of a university of great repute, I would ever be discussing The Gut,” Prof. Cassar recalls.
Author George Cini recalls how The Gut still evokes a sea of memories for droves of servicemen from armed forces around the world, in particular British and Americans who remember the alley in Valletta as a place where they spent nights listen-ing to live music and enjoying themselves.
“The memories The Gut still stirs in servicemen who served here are reinforced by the tales and reminiscences in the book recounted by the very protagonists who spent their life earning a living along that electrifying street.”
Apart from a collection of nostalgic photos, the book features a set of vibrant watercolours by Paul Caruana. It is published by Allied Publications and is on sale at bookstores, stationers and online.
www.bdlbooks.com