The Jukebox Queen of Malta
by Nicholas Rinaldi
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Description
The Jukebox Queen of Malta is an exquisite and enchanting novel of love and war set on an island perilously balanced between what is real and what is not. It's 1942 and Rocco Raven, an intrepid auto mechanic turned corporal from Brooklyn, has arrived in Malta, a Mediterranean island of Neolithic caves, Copper Age temples, and fortresses. The island is under siege, full of smoke and rubble, caught in the magnesium glare of German and Italian bombs. But nothing is as it seems on Malta. Rocco's show more living quarters are a brothel; his commanding officer has a genius for turning the war's misfortunes into personal profit; and the Maltese people, astonishingly, testify to the resiliency of the human spirit. When Rocco meets the beautiful and ethereal Melita, who delivers the jukeboxes her cousin builds out of shattered debris, they are drawn to each other by an immediate passion. And, it is their full-blown affair that at once liberates and imprisons Rocco on the island. In this mesmerizing novel, music and bombs, war and romance, the jukebox and the gun exist in arresting counterpoint in a story that is a profound and deeply moving exploration of the redemptive powers of love. show lessTags
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A great story of the terrors of war and the magic of love, and about being human. Set in Second World War Malta.
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Author Information
8 Works 308 Members
Nicholas Rinaldi teaches literature and creative writing at Fairfield University.
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Jukebox Queen of Malta
- People/Characters
- Rocco Raven; Melita; Fingerly
- Important places
- Malta
- Important events
- World War II; World War II, Siege of Malta
- First words
- They had names for the wind, for the different gusts and breezes that blew across the island.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PS3568 .I47 .J85 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 133
- Popularity
- 245,128
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.36)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, Finnish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 3
