'Sunset Exiles': musings on living, ageing and on dying

Sunset Exiles by M. J. Camilleri is a new novel in English recently published by Merlin Publishers. Set in contemporary Malta, archetypal Maltese communities and the hustle and bustle of Sliema’s busy streets, it’s both a love story and a reflection on life, on commitment and compromise, and on continuing to embrace life as the decades roll by.

Toni and Lucia are not youngsters when they meet, and yet, with previous relationships behind them, they find love together. It’s time for a fresh start.

The story begins “Toni Tanti had a stroke at six o’clock in the morning on the third Sunday in October.”

It all begins, we’re told, with a bell. Over the following pages the reader is invited to share the 48-hour build-up to this fateful day and follow Toni’s subconscious memories and half-formed dreams of women he’s known and loved over the years.

Toni is a decent man prone to anxiety and over-thinking, with a concomitant fear of commitment. He is also fit and handsome, so many girlfriends appear briefly in his thoughts, a list reminiscent of The Beautiful South’s Song for Whoever: “Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue, Deborah, Annabel, too”.

Hearing the stories of his regular dates, Toni’s niece Julia always enjoys “the latest episode of Tinder Toni”. She is “his own Jiminy Cricket,” a kind, thoughtful, and common-sense voice, and the perfect example of the wonderfully close cross-generational relationships in many Maltese families.

Alongside good characterisation, Sunset Exiles gives an honest view of the pros and cons of small island life. The shared history and the support network that the wider community provides – whether solicited or otherwise – is evident in the minutiae of interactions in Toni’s stationer’s shop, and with the supporting cast of characters although Toni “had learnt to avoid Sliema for his dates. Less chance of being seen, less chance of gossip.”

Author Mark J. Camilleri

And then suddenly, Lucia steamrolls right into his life, and our long-established bachelor suddenly finds himself with a female flatmate within 24 hours of meeting. It’s funny because it’s faintly ridiculous, but it’s also refreshing. Lucia is great and she’s gorgeous. The same age as Toni, she’s full of life, classy, confident and considerate.

Only recently, this newspaper published the stark headline that, because of the low birth rate, the population here could shrink by half over the next 45 years, a trend that comes hand in hand with a rising percentage of people considered, perhaps, beyond the prime of their life. 

“I work as a GP,” says Camilleri, “and therefore see lots of patients of all ages. I’m always impressed by how many of them continue to travel, exercise, still work, and have active romantic and/or sex lives in their ‘sunset’ years. It’s often quite inspirational, so I want­ed to create an older protagonist, and show that daily life, thoughts and desires don’t have to change that much.”

It’s great to be reminded we needn’t expect a preponderance of wrinkled oldies shuffling through the streets in carpet slippers: after all, rom coms are now full of film stars in the second half of their adult life. Just look at the latest Bridget Jones film, which in the UK made €14.8m, (£12.3m) in its first weekend earlier this year, the best box office opening ever for a romantic comedy in the UK and Ireland, according to Universal.

“There’s nothing like a saucy plate of pasta to help restore some va-va-voom to two old invalids,” laughs Lucia.

The day that Toni and Lucia meet is also the day of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death, pinning the story to a real-life timeline. Toni had admired her bravery and tenacity, her aesthetic and gastronomical output too, and the contrast between the lovers’ lives and a life cut short is stark.

With lovely descriptions and gentle humour, including a promenading couple ‘in their matching fleece tops like runaway members of some wellness cult’, and Toni being told he’s “Fast AF” (which stands for Fast Atrial Fibrillation rather than a hip phrase with asterisks to describe a notably high speed), this is a book that encompasses the rich gamut of human experiences:

“This is real life, Julia, not Dallas.”

“It’s 2017, Uncle. I think you mean Game of Thrones.”

There is also pathos, and as the story rolls smoothly along, there are big questions, scattered in Toni’s introspective narrative. He asks, for example: “Have my decades of singledom prepared me, fortified me, and roughened me for the troubles of old age? Is a resilient loner more equipped for life’s journey?”

Other thought-provoking moments cause the reader to wonder whether a shared existence with a dearly be­loved condemns whoever survives the longest to a twilight of life-consuming grief? Might this even be a fair price to pay for what has come before?

And so, with measured musings on living, ageing and on dying, on solitude and family, on routines and remembrance, on small pleasures and joy, Sunset Exiles reminds us that the minutiae in life are actually the big things for a rich existence, whatever age you are.