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Angelo Xuereb: Angelo. Book Guild Publishing (Brighton, England). 2012. 320 pp.

Among recent autobiographical works by Maltese authors, Angelo is of special interest because it is an often frank account of how one of Malta’s most successful businessmen in our time managed to rise from modest beginnings through sheer ambition, great determination and intelligence to become a leading figure in building development and the tourist reception industry.

If he had expected the Nationalists to make all his paths smooth throughout their decades in power, however, he was wrong- Paul Xuereb

The book is very readable and the style in which it is written, despite the occasional solecism, surprisingly good when one considers that Xuereb has never been a bookman and confesses he had never read a single book when he started writing this one, his first writing venture.

Is it too much to suspect that the book’s editor, Charles Micallef St John, must have left quite an imprint on the author’s script? But perhaps I underestimate the author’s natural ability as a writer, just as, judging by the book, many politicians, financiers and businessmen in the past underestimated his great ability and courage as an entrepreneur.

It seems that he was still a boy when he voiced his determination to become a successful businessman and got his first hands-on training by helping his father who raised his family from the poverty it lived in by going in for shrewd farming and then, more successfully, as a speculator in the purchase and sale of land at a time when Malta’s political independence was in the air and then became an actuality.

The boy was made to work hard by his father who, however, like many fathers on the economic and social make, insisted that the young Angelo should not follow in his footsteps but become a banker.

For a good number of years, Xuereb and his father got on very badly, and it was only after Xuereb was launched on his successful career that his father was finally persuaded his son had made the right decision and became very proud of him.

This motif of an opponent whom Xuereb eventually proves to be utterly wrong is repeated again and again in the book. As far as his father was concerned, Xuereb must be grateful to him for enrolling him in a good church school for his secondary education. This it was, one can be sure, that polished at least some of the roughness of the rough diamond the boy was.

The boy fell in love with a pretty young girl from his village, Naxxar, when he was still at school. Jessie was supportive of his ambitions and even lent him money when he badly needed it for his early business ventures. The beginnings were tough, for his father refused to help him at all, but the boy’s determination was remarkable.

He even made an appointment to meet a client the day after his wedding day, and he even sold some stuff during the young couple’s brief honeymoon in Gozo. His love for Jessie was great, but his ambition was equally great.

Xuereb has always thought big. When his building contractor business was still at a fledgling state, he set up billboards all over the place announcing the existence of Angelo Xuereb Limited, giving himself a new image as a trustworthy contractor to replace that of the very young man he still was.

He soon made a reputation as someone who fulfilled commissions very punctually, and it was this expeditiousness that brought him to the attention of Mintoff’s public works minister of the time, the notorious Lorry Sant, who was so impressed that he assigned to Xuereb more and more of the construction of the large factory being built for the government.

Xuereb, however, was to have an unpleasant clash with another Labour minister, Wistin Abela, minister of finance, when the ambitious young entrepreneur planned to build a large hotel in Qawra. He had already built another one in the area and needed a substantial bank loan for the project.

His bank, however, could not lend him more than a modest proportion of what he needed, and even for this the minister’s approval was still needed, and could well be refused.

Xuereb went on with his fast building programme but it became increasingly clear that the minister was hostile to the scheme partly because the government was opening its own tourist hotel and disliked competition.

Xuereb gives a stirring account of his attempts to speak to the minister, culminating in an angry encounter with him in the parliament building.

Xuereb’s threat to stop his project, and lay off workers and go to the press on the eve of the 1987 general election paid off, for at a meeting at the Central Bank, he was told that his loan had been approved.

When in May the Nationalist Party came back to power, the new finance minister had no hesitation in ensuring that Xuereb was lent all the money he needed. His cup of joy was now overflowing, and the opening of his Suncrest Hotel was a huge success.

If he had expected the Nationalists to make all his paths smooth throughout their decades in power, however, he was wrong.

When he built a new private hospital in Sliema and began to manage it, he found that he would not be given a licence for an ITU department, and ended up selling the hospital to Josie Muscat, who already had his own private clinic.

Another bitter disappointment was his failure to take on the development of Tigné Point and Manoel Island on the terms he desired.

He found himself opposed to powerful forces and was forced to withdraw. On the other hand, the Viset consortium he formed was given the task of creating the handsome new Valletta Waterfront, and of this Xuereb is justly very proud.

Xuereb takes great pride in his ability as a planner, whether of a building or of a whole region, and he has often gone public with his ideas about matters like transport planning or the planning of the Grand Harbour area.

Perhaps his major error was to attempt to create a large tourist development in Albania, still a difficult country to invest in. Here his keen business sense led him astray, and the entire project just failed to take off.

Though coming from a staunchly Nationalist family, Xuereb felt he had to show the government he merited better treatment, and it was this that led to his venture in local government politics on an independent ticket, becoming a popular mayor for two successive terms.

His great mistake was to team up with Dr Muscat in 2007 to form a new political party, Azzjoni Nazzjonali, that fared abysmally at the 2008 general election.

Xuereb learned to drive his father’s car when he was still well under age, and ever since then he has remained car-mad. He is now the owner of a powerful Aston Martin, which he is in the habit of regularly taking over to Sicily where he can more safely put it through its paces.

He is a keen cyclist and spends hours during weekends riding his mountain bike. Presumably, he is happiest when he is in control, even in his leisure activities.

Xuereb’s marriage to Jessie Abela has proved to be very successful, and their three children – Richard, Claire and Denise – have given their parents great satisfaction with their brightness and their capacity for long hours of hard work and their success in obtaining degrees from foreign institutions.

All three of them are closely involved in running their father’s business interests, making him feel that the future of his business empire will remain in good hands for a long time.

Claire, who manages his Victoria and The Palace hotels in Sliema, came most tragically to public notice on New Year’s Day this year, when her husband was brutally murdered in their home with his alleged murderer lying also stabbed to death by his side.

This murder was one of the most sensational crimes committed in Malta within living memory and Xuereb’s account in this book does not make it much less puzzling.

Will it become one of the great unsolved mysteries of the present century?

This book is in hardback and colour pictures illustrate many of the author’s triumphs and important family events.