James Vella-Bardon might have pursued a career in law, but it is his novels that are fast earning him international accolades.

His novels belong to the historical fiction genre, the realm of global literary greats such as Hilary Mantel, Umberto Eco and Marguerite Yourcenar.

“A virtuoso of historical fiction,” said the Reader’s Digest; “Sheer quality, historical integrity and emotional resonance,” according to London Economic. The Scotsman described him as “the new king of historical fiction”.

And it’s not only the official book reviewers who are raving about the talents of Vella-Bardon.

He has been receiving many five-star accolades, the highest possible, on the internet site Goodreads, which essentially gauges the opinions of readers.

Vella-Bardon has won Best Historical Fiction and Best Novel at the US’s 2019 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards, for The Sheriff’s Catch, also named a finalist at the Wishing Shelf Book Awards in 2019.

His 2007 move to Sydney coincided with the time when Mantel’s Wolf Hall was taking the world by storm.

“I was stunned by Mantel’s attention to detail and the risks she took; writing in the present tense about a lesser-known (Thomas Cromwell) historical figure,” the 42-year-old observes.

“Her writing inspired me to read everything about the historical periods I chose as settings for my stories.

“I always wanted to write, but I was reading law at the University of Malta, so I never really got time to do it. To be honest, I also could not really see a way how I could go about doing it, until I moved to Sydney.

“The Australian mindset is very positive; Aussies always tell you: ‘go for it!’ I could also attend the local writing centre and meet other writers, a fair few of them published, which I thought was amazing and encouraged me to keep working on my stuff,” he added.

Vella-Bardon, an admirer of Ġużè Stagno whom he considers to be the Maltese equivalent of Irvine Welsh, tries to read everything he could get his hands on regarding the period upon which he bases his storylines.

He admits his legal background comes in handy, having honed the ability to scan through many pages of information and zoom in on what is needed.

His friendship with an Oxford University-trained historian is providential as a source of JStor articles, besides having access, as a University of Sydney alumnus, to the incredibly well-stocked Fisher Library.

The Sheriff’s Catch is set in late 16th century Ireland while Mad King Robin and the short story The Cream of Chivalry, has Robert the Bruce, the early 14th-century king of Scotland, as the main protagonist.

“My main goal is always to cold-bloodedly identify an episode of great curiosity, which can make for an exciting page-turner while also shedding further light on a widely known episode,” he points out.

“It just so happens that I judged the Armada landings in Ireland and the life of Robert the Bruce to tick that box. But if I have to stray from historical fiction to create a thriller with a more contemporary setting like, say, recent events in Mariupol, then I wouldn’t bat an eyelid to do so. In my case the main goal determines the setting, not the other way around.”

The Scottish king was also central to the theme of a novella, The Battle of Bannockburn, that he penned when he was just 16 years old.

The novelist’s love for creative writing in the English language dates back to his student days at St Aloysius College.

“I’m told that, from my earliest years, I was always keen on stories and fiction in English. The college provided me with opportunities to develop this interest, through initiatives like the English Speaking Board or putting me forward for national essay competitions organised by the British High Commission, which I won with an essay about the Vikings.”

He nostalgically reminisces about the past: “The college library was also reasonably well-stocked at the time.

“I particularly enjoyed essay-writing and often found myself helping a few classmates to complete their essays, just before English class.”

As a boy, his passion for literature was such that he often caught a rickety old bus to Valletta to blow all his pocket money on novels at Sapienza’s bookshop. His mother, Josanne Tagliaferro, a formerly renowned London Royal School of Music-trained concert pianist, contributed to the young boy’s love for the arts.

Vella-Bardon’s sixth form years at the college were enriched by his authoring of a Maltese farce which demonstrated his skills in writing in Maltese as well.

He worked for a while in Brussels where his proficiency in both English and Maltese was essential.

Debut in the literary world

Vella-Bardon spent seven years researching and writing The Sheriff’s Catch and the other four books in his The Sassana Stone Pentalogy in which the protagonist is marksman Abel de Santiago – a survivor of the Great Siege of 1565.

The reaction to a debut novel is always a nail-biting experience: thorough research, style, flow and storyline do not always assure success.

Reviewers can be cruel, and negative critical assessments can destroy all the hard work.

However, Vella-Bardon’s work has met with acclaim.

“I have been blown away by the positive reviews on Goodreads from unknowns all over the world,” he admits.

Successful historical fiction occasionally makes its way to the silver screen and TV, many a times this constitutes ultimate affirmation and universal success for the literary work.

Vella-Bardon has mixed feelings about films spawned from books.

“Many bookworms will assure you that ‘the book is always better than the film’. Yet, I think there are screen dramatisations which did a great job of developing a particular theme in a book.”

He thinks directors Peter Jackson and Francis Ford Coppola did incredible jobs in the J.R.R. Tolkien’s Rings trilogy, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, respectively. He thinks the BBC’s six-part TV series of Wolf Hall was arguably better than the novel itself.

Vella-Bardon also believes that unless they have experience in the field, authors should not have full control over the onscreen dramatisation.

“It’s an entirely different skillset,” he said.

“I think it’s wise for an author to delegate tasks unrelated to the writing process to other people, so long as those other people are more competent or experienced than the author in the particular area entrusted to them.”

Vella-Bardon “has what it takes to become a literary giant”, according to The Scotsman.

The book-loving public is invited to check this out as his latest novel, Mad King Robin, is now available for sale from local  bookshops.