Washing Up In Malta

Washing Up in Malta is about travel, coming of age, mothers and daughters. The lives of two women, Jessica and Grace, unfold across a century of change. Their particular journeys take them through Scotland, England, Germany, Africa, Bahamas, and Australia. Through it all, the place that punctuates their lives as a marker of home is the tiny island of Malta, at the centre of the Mediterranean Sea. Grace begins her journey here, and Jessica completes the circle by returning to Malta toward the end of her life. In between, Grace and Jessica hear different drums. Their lives share common rites of passage and the love of one man, but they each have their own way of dealing with the challenges of their times. Just as Malta struggles to find a path toward independence, Jessica and Grace also find their own way through the competing demands of the world around them.

The car bomb assassination of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 shocked the European Union and put the world’s spotlight on an island so small that few knew it was an independent country and even fewer could find it on the map. But Caruana Galizia’s death didn’t come as a surprise to those who lived there. Ryan Murdock had visions of living a slow-paced island life on the Mediterranean while writing about his experiences, so in 2011 he moved from Canada to Malta. To the casual visitor, Malta is a sleepy place with sun-soaked shorelines and ancient fortified harbors. Murdock imagined it to be an archipelago island of warm weather, gorgeous views, busy cafes, and grilled fish dinners. On the surface, it was. The six years Murdock spent in Malta revealed an insular culture whose fundamental baseline is amoral familism, a worldview in which any action taken to benefit one’s family or oneself is justifiable, regardless of whether it is legal or ethical. In such a place murder may or may not be wrong, depending on what one thinks of another’s politics. This pervasive perspective created a culture of corruption that rose all the way to the top of the island nation. The office of the prime minister was implicated in Caruana Galizia’s murder, and the investigation continues to reveal a government mired in money laundering, human trafficking, fuel smuggling, and the sale of EU passports to Russian and Middle Eastern oligarchs. Interspersed with personal narrative, Murdock delves into Malta’s unique geopolitical, cultural, ethnic, and religious history—one that transformed it from a hub of prehistoric rule into a modern society where a powerful cabal of political and business leaders nearly got away with murder.

Songs for a Blind Date is the second in a trilogy. Each book stands alone but is linked by themes of place and the story of Jessica. In the second book, Ernesto, an Italian war orphan, is put on a ship to Australia when he is twelve years old. Ernesto grows into Queensland manhood in the canefields of the North and becomes Ernie, the postman who delivers Jessicas mail in a suburb of Brisbane. By the time Ernie meets Jessica, he has re-invented himself as a bachelor living on acreage with his own mail delivery company. Now he sings snatches of his own song but still yearns for the songs of his mother. Jessica is an established academic, living her own life and working on her PhD. Ernie and Jessica find some joy in each other but is it enough for them both to find new notes to harmonise the clashing chords of their different lives?

The human heart was created with a great capacity to love. But along with that comes a great capacity to feel pain. There is no denying that those who love us, who are closest to us, can wound us the most profoundly. That kind of pain can be difficult, if not impossible, to overcome. And it can feel even more impossible to continue loving in the face of it. Yet that is exactly what we are called to do. Sharing his own story of personal pain, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Jentezen Franklin shows us how to find the strength, courage, and motivation to set aside the hurt, see others as God sees them, and reach out in love. Through biblical and modern-day stories, he discusses different types of relational disappointment and heartache, and answers questions such as Why should I trust again? and How can I ever really forgive? The walls we build around our hearts to cut us off from pain are the very walls that block us from seeing hope, receiving healing, and feeling love. Here are the tools and inspiration you need to tear down those walls, work through your wounds, repair damaged relationships, and learn to love like you've never been hurt.

A Study Guide Companion to Your Mess, God's Miracle What if your pain and struggles were not punishments to endure--but opportunities to showcase God's glory? Inspired by the story of the blind man in John 9, bestselling author and pastor Samuel Rodriguez shows us that sometimes Jesus makes your situation a muddy mess first--and out of that mess emerges a miracle. With biblical inspiration, scientific findings and true stories, Pastor Sam lays out the practical, hope-infused roadmap for anyone with the audacity to replace fear with faith, wash away the mud of the past and walk through their mess into God's miracle. "A must-read for every believer for the hour we are in."--JENTEZEN FRANKLIN, senior pastor, Free Chapel; New York Times bestselling author "You will never see your situation the same again. I was blessed by this book."--DR. WILLIAM M. WILSON, president, Oral Roberts University "Spiritual vision is essential. Samuel Rodriguez opens our eyes to the reality of seeing the unseen and what matters most. I love this book!"--DR. JACK GRAHAM, senior pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church "A reminder that no matter where you are in your journey, you can expect a miracle."--KEVIN SORBO, actor, director, author "This book is theology on fire."--JESSE BRADLEY, senior pastor, Grace Community Church "Will encourage and empower you. I thoroughly recommend this book."--RUSSELL EVANS, senior pastor, Planetshakers Church "Wow! This fantastic book has unique insights for the Church we need to hear."--PHIL PRINGLE, senior pastor and founder, C3 Church Global Also available in Spanish.

Malta, 1913, and hot air balloons hover over the Grand Harbour. One of them comes down in the water but no one is hurt - except that the balloonist dies later when taken into the Naval Hospital for a check-up. But he is not the only one who had died there unexpectedly, as a letter to The Times points out, and a special investigator, Seymour of the Foreign Office, is sent out from London to find out what is going on. For in 1913 Malta is still a British protectorate, governed by the British; indeed, with its red postboxes, English beer and English language it seems like an exotic Little Britain. But the rumblings of war are reaching out to that small island in the Mediterranean and many of the old Maltese families are becoming divided in their loyalties: at the same time staunchly supportive to the British and yet starting to question Malta's subordinate status and wondering whether the time has come to strike out an independent path for themselves. So the letter to The Times has touched a raw nerve, as Seymour soon finds out: is it a critique of bad nursing practises? Or is there a different, more sinister explanation to these sudden deaths? Praise for Michael Pearce's A Dead Man in . . . series 'The steady pace, atmospheric design, and detailed description re-create a complicated city. A recommended historical series' Library Journal 'Sheer fun' The Times 'His sympathetic portrayal of an unfamiliar culture, impeccable historical detail and entertaining dialogue make enjoyable reading' Sunday Telegraph

A journalist’s spellbinding account of the shocking murder of his muckraking mother and a quest for justice that has reverberated far beyond their tiny homeland An archipelago off the southern coast of Italy, Malta is a picturesque gem eroded by a climate of corruption, polarization, inequality, and a virtual absence of civic spirit. In this unpromising soil, a fearless journalist took root. Daphne Caruana Galizia fashioned herself into the country’s lonely voice of conscience, her muckraking and editorializing sending shock waves that threatened to topple those in power and made her at once the island’s best-known figure and its most reviled. In 2017, a campaign of intimidation against her culminated in a car bombing that took her life. Daphne was also he devoted and inspiring mother to three sons, who with their father have carried on the quest for justice and transparency after her death. Spellbindingly narrated by the youngest of them, the award-winning journalist Paul Caruana Galizia, A Death in Malta is at once a study in heroism and the powerful story of a family’s crusade for accountability in a society built on lies, with reverberations far beyond their homeland.