The Jukebox Queen of Malta

Nicholas Rinaldi deftly blends humor and tragedy, magic and realism in the enchanting story of an unlikely romance born in the chaos of war and subject to its ever-present absurdities and dangers. The year is 1942 and Rocco Raven finds himself in Malta, barracked in a brothel and under the command of an officer with a genius for turning the misfortunes of war into personal profit. When the barracks are bombed, Raven wanders the streets aimlessly -- until Melita, a beautiful, ethereal woman, appears and sends him headlong into love.

Their passionate affair is accompanied by the music from the jukeboxes Melita's cousin constructs from remnants left in the wake of bombs. Against the larger background of the war, Rocco and Melita are swept along through episodes that are whimsical and at times brilliantly comic, but also horrifying and ultimately tragic.