Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1187474
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 NOVEMBER 2019 7 CULTURE THE novel is set in Malta at the turn of the century. The story be- gins to unfold in 1897 on a farm be- longing to two sisters in Wied Babu, a remote valley nestled on the south coast. Here, two households co-exist peacefully together: that of the younger sister Susanna with her husband Dwardu and their baby daughter Bettina, and the other of Mattea, the elder sister, and her husband Peppin, Dwardu's elder brother, who are still childless af- ter several years of marriage. Des- tiny intervenes when a baby boy is born in mysterious circumstances in that same locality and Mattea finally has a baby to nurture as her own. But who is this baby Lu- ciano, really and truly? On the cusp of adulthood, Lu- ciano finally learns about his birth mother, but the identity of his real father remains a complete mystery. He is a young man when the First World War breaks out and brings unforeseen changes to the lives of these two families. But more is to come when the Spanish Flu epidemic, riding in the wake of war, ravages Europe and hun- dreds die in Malta. Luciano and Bettina, who had believed they were cousins, find themselves drawn to each other. Bettina becomes a doctor and runs the grave risk of falling prey to the dreaded flu. What will hap- pen to this pair of lovers? Will Lu- ciano ever find out about his real father? Luciano Books Lina Brockdorff A public lecture by Professor Keith Sciberras on Melchiorre Cafà's statuette, 'St Rose of Lima', is set to mark the first year of MUŻA – the National Community Art Museum, in Valletta, as well as the recent acquisition of the statuette by Heritage Malta. The lecture, which will be held on Thursday, the 28th of No- vember, at 6.30pm at MUŻA, will discuss the statue within the context of Cafà's work, and the wider framework of the Ro- man Baroque style. The event is a joint collaboration between Her- itage Malta and the Department of Art and Art History within the University of Malta. St Rose of Lima, who lived be- tween 1586 and 1617, became the first female saint of the new world in April 1668. For this oc- casion, Cafà's marble statue of the Dominican saint was dis- played prominently on the Ca- thedra of St Peter, in the titular apse of the Vatican, directly in front of Bernini's iconic ensem- ble within the same Basilica. Melchiorre Cafà was meant to be the artistic protagonist, but his untimely death seven months prior to the Beatification tragi- cally precluded his presence from the well-choreographed ephem- eral spectacle commissioned by the powerful Dominican Order. The real protagonist, however, was his white marble statue. Following the Beatification, the statue travelled across the Atlan- tic Ocean and beyond, to finally mark the saint's tomb in Lima, Peru, making Cafà's work the first monumental statue of the Roman Baroque to travel so far from the Papal City. Melchiorre Cafà also produced a number of smaller bronze versions of the statue, the most beautiful of which, made of gilt bronze and silver, has been acquired by Her- itage Malta. Heritage Malta acquires Melchiorre Cafà's 'St Rose of Lima'