The book cover was painted by Nicola Kearns’s father, Nicholas Kearns, after she (below) lost all the photos she had shot on her phone while in Malta.

Amazed by what the Maltese went through during World War II, an Irish woman has captured their resilience in a book after realising it is rarely featured in novels.

Despite studying about the war, it was only when she came to Malta two years ago that she got to know why the island had earned the reputation of being an “unsinkable aircraft carrier”.

“I have always had an interest in the Second World War and thought I knew quite a lot about it, until I went to Malta and visited the war museums. I began to read as much as I could about the war there and was amazed at what the people went through,” Nicola Kearns told this newspaper.

“While looking for books online I found there was actually very little written about the war there in novels. I studied history and the Second World War, and yet I was never taught anything about Malta’s war experience. So, I simply decided to write a book myself.

“I felt it was a story that deserved to be told,” she said.

The task involved a lot of research and help from several groups in Malta, including the Mtarfa Military Hospital Historical Group and the Malta World War II Living History Group.

Launched in Ireland this month, she said people were eager to travel to Malta after reading the book, which has been stocked by several stores, including Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

Under a Maltese Sky sees Ana Mellor caught up in the war when she lands here to join her Wing Commander father. Another protagonist, Ernie McGuill, is posted to Malta when leaving home to join the British Army after being disillusioned with Ireland’s fight for political independence.

The story is set against the resilience of the Maltese, who struggle to survive the horror and destruction.

I began to read as much as I could about the war there and was amazed at what the people went through

Ms Kearns, 44, knows a little about what it means to live in a place at war. Born in the north of Ireland, her family moved to Dundalk in the south because of the civil war. Today, she lives in Fenagh, in northwest Ireland.

She told the newspaper that Malta has taken up a “huge place” in her heart.

“The courage and resilience of the Maltese during the siege in World War II is a wonderful story of bravery and I hope I have done justice to them in my book.”

With her flight already booked for December, she is writing a sequel, also set in Malta.