Le Vieux Paris
Where else to begin exploring Paris but where the city began? Walking through the Île de la Cité covers some 4000 years of civilisation, from when the first Gauls settled here, to those living statues who pose each day outside the Notre-Dame for tourists.
The Quiet American
The Quiet American by Graham Greene is in many was a love song to Saigon, where Green once stayed. He expresses a love of the Vietnamese people and their gentle ways, although it is at such odds with the violence slowly descending as the Vietnam War looms.
The Kappillan of Malta
It is far easier to write interestingly of the devil than of a good man, but in The Kappillan of Malta, Nicholas Monsarrat succeeds. Against the backdrop of The Siege if Malta in WWII, the bombs open some forgotten catacombs. As fear fills the city, up to 6000 Maltese take refuge here and Father Salvatore joins them, becoming the priest (or kappillan) of the catacombs. Most of all, throughout Monserrat’s writing shines his love of Malta; her history and her people, their strength and their failings. A Malta I want to discover, as I walk her streets to find the world of Father Salvatore.