Daughter to a naval officer, Jenny Wilson lived in colonial Malta as a teenager. Now 70, she turns her experiences into a charming fictional novel, In Lazzaretto, with a story that finds the island at the centre of a love story hampered by the rigid hierarchical structure imposed by the British. She tells Ramona Depares about her recollections of society in Malta at the time.

How did your connection to Malta start?

My father was a naval officer. In 1952, when I was 12, he was appointed to a ship in Lazzaretto Creek. The day I set foot in Malta it was a case of love at first sight and we ended up staying until 1954.

What are your recollections of the Malta of that period?

A tale of two worlds. The life of the ‘services’ buzzed around the harbours, barracks, airfields and lidos.

In contrast, there was the peace of places like St Paul’s Bay before the resorts existed. On hot days, the man selling oil would stop his horse and cart to give us a lift.

Shops near the Mikado cinema opened in the evening (unheard of then, in England). At dusk in the harbour of La Scaletta, families strolled along the waterfront.

What stands out the most from that time of your life in your mind?

The privilege of being plucked from a quiet Hampshire village and flown to a magical island. Then finding it marred by the rigid hierarchical society imposed upon it.

I also remember that bottles of Melita and Marsovin wine cost one shilling each and that we really loved Gozo wine.

How was the idea for the book born?

After Malta gained its independence, I visited several times. I was struck by how a society that had existed for more than a century had vanished with little trace.

Maltese people and tourists often asked me to describe it, so I decided to try to recreate it in a novel.

I then experienced three bereavements and wanted to write about the effects of grief. I put the two ideas together and In Lazzaretto was the result.

And how is the Malta you remember reflected in your book?

I hope it conveys the atmosphere of that time but it is only a taste.

The naval presence was formidable in sight and sound. The aircraft carriers and cruisers of the fleet-filled Grand Harbour, the Reserve Fleet in Lazzaretto Creek, HMS Forth and the submarines...

These all dominated Msida Creek, while the destroyer Flotilla rode at anchor in Sliema Creek.

We lived briefly on Tigné seafront and it felt as if there was a destroyer in the drawing room.

I have also tried to recall the sense of space in the island. The countryside and coasts were undeveloped and bays were usually empty. Mdina really was silent, peopled only by its inhabitants.

The society depicted is the one I felt I experienced and other children may have had a different impression. I arrived carefree and left confused.

I felt it was glamorous and cruel. I have tried to show, in fiction, how hard it was to be human in a society constrained by protocol.

How much of the descriptions and social conventions mentioned in the book are based on fact?

The story is fictional, but the descriptions of social mores and functions are based on my family’s experiences and, later, on my own when my father was appointed to Malta again in 1958.

Protocol and tradition were all-important. I had first-hand experience of attitudes to promotion from the lower deck.

Some naval families welcomed it, some did not. The social round was hectic. On the media, Heard in the Hive reported endless cocktail parties, dances and balls in ships, clubs, shore establishments and the Governor’s palaces.

In 1958 I sensed a mellowing, as if the society was shaking off some of its constraints.

Your book can be described both as a love story and as a commentary about class division of the time – which aspect is the most important for you and why?

I feel it is a love story about Malta. I missed the island grievously when we left in 1961.

I could have written about class division in other naval bases as we lived in Plymouth, Portland, Portsmouth and Chatham.

But I wanted to dwell in Malta again. The other love story in the book grew out of past loneliness and present grief.

What made you pitch the idea to a Maltese publisher?

I submitted it just before the 50th anniversary of independence, thinking it would be timely and of more interest to a Maltese publisher than to one in the UK. Happily, Merlin Publishers decided to publish it.

You live in the UK – do you visit or keep up with news from Malta? If yes, how do you see the Malta of today as fitting within this picture?

I have visited Malta five times but am prevented now by mobility problems caused by arthritis. I keep up with news by reading or hearing it from friends.

It is good to see a vibrant independent Malta. You are a respected EU member, you have cultivated resources other than the dockyard and you are playing a vital part in the migrant crisis.

I miss the ships and the open spaces we knew, but I am glad you are cherishing your heritage from the Knights.

I hope you will look after the Lazzaretto! Visiting the Knights’ palazzo, that now houses a museum, I remembered dancing there when it was Admiralty House.

I loved the place of peaceful beauty it has become. You have also dispensed with the bendy-buses, which is very good news.

Do you think your book will resonate only with the generation of the time, or is the story universal?

I hope it will speak to anyone who has felt that they are different or that they do not belong. I believe it addresses universal questions about grief and providence.

I hope it will shed light on the effect adult intrigues can have on children although I realise children today are more sophisticated than they were at that time.

In Lazzaretto is available online and from book shops.

www.merlinpublishers.com