Author James Vella-Bardon’s latest novel Hero of Rosclogher will be launched at the Agenda Bookshop in Republic Street on July 6 at 10am. The event will include a brief talk and book signing by the author. 

The novel is the third instalment of Vella-Bardon’s five-novel saga The Sassana Stone, a grim and acclaimed odyssey set in 16th-century Europe. 

The series recounts the trials of Maltese-born and bred sniper Abel de Santiago, who is also a survivor of the Spanish Armada shipwrecks on the western coast of Ireland. 

In June 2022, Reader’s Digest published a favourable review of the series, describing it as “a gripping and vivid historical underdog adventure”. 

Advance Goodreads reviews of the novel have to date been glowing, with a South African reader saying: “I’ve read the first three books in this pentalogy, and each of the three gets a well-deserved five stars for the research and the writing.” 

A UK reader described the third instalment as ‘probably the most action-packed so far’, with a Maltese reader saying “The atmosphere is brilliantly set. James’s writing style makes it very easy to get into the story.”

Also present for the event will be Maltese cultural ambassador and tenor Joseph Calleja, veteran arts critic Albert Storace and the artist and illustrator Kenneth Zammit Tabona.

All three guest speakers are enthusiasts of Vella-Bardon’s writing and his single-minded ambition to take Maltese genre fiction in English into new spaces.