Book of the Day: Ironfire by David Ball
by Edward Nawotka, PW Daily for Booksellers -- Publishers Weekly, 2/2/2004
The island of Malta may be best known as the home to the legend of the Maltese Falcon, a story perpetrated by mystery writer Dashiell Hammett in his Sam Spade mystery novel of the same name. In the film version of novel, starring Humphrey Bogart, the legend opens the movie, scrolling up the screen, reading:
"In 1539, the Knights Templar of Malta, paid tribute to Charles V of Spain, by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels. . .but pirates seized the galley carrying this priceless token and the fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a mystery to this day."
Sadly the story is mere legend, or so says David Ball, who has spent nearly four years researching his historical novel, Ironfire (Delacorte, $24.95). Subtitled "A Novel of the Knights of Malta and the Last Battle of the Crusades," the book charts the paths four distinct characters in the years leading up to the siege of Malta by the Ottoman Empire of Sulieman the Magnificent (nicknamed "The Possessor of Men's Necks") in 1565. During that battle, 600 Knights and 9,000 Maltese defended the island citadel against 40,000 Turkish soldiers, eventually killing some 30,000 of them. It was the last significant battle of the Crusades.
The main part of Ball's novel recounts the story of Nico, a Maltese boy who is kidnapped from the island, sold into slavery in Algiers, taken to Istanbul and forced to convert from Christianity to Islam. Through twists and turns of fate, he ends up leading the Ottoman fleet against his homeland.
Ball told PW Daily his plot is drawn directly from history. "This is how Sulieman populated his empire. By promoting outsiders to the highest ranks of his society and military, as he does with Nico, he guarantees there is no conflict with family." Ball also said that he thinks the themes of Christian and Muslim conflict mirror current issues. "One of the most important elements in the book is that Nico, contrary to his upbringing, discovers that Islam is not an evil religion," says Ball.
It's no surprise that Ball cites Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance and James Clavell's Shogun as influences. PW Forecasts found a veritable miniseries in the book, writing, "Ball's bold, gruesome descriptions convincingly evoke the savagery of this 16th-century religious war and the treachery and zealotry of Muslim and Christian authorities alike." This is historical fiction at its best: dramatic, sweeping, and detailed.
So what is the true story of the Maltese falcon? For that you'll just have to read the book.
