Novel set in Gozo is full of unexpected twists

Tide of Shadows

by PT Leonard

self-published, 2025

Newly published and set in modern Gozo, Tide of Shadows is an exciting contemporary thriller written by author PT Leonard. It has a rich sense of place with pretty golden stone villages, bobbing luzzu and a timeless flavour in which “the Church’s reach is quiet but absolute.”

And yet infused with the island’s heritage as rubble walls snake between terraced fields and low green hills rise from hidden rocky coves, the island is not romanticised: it is also represented as place of contradiction and change, where centuries-old traditions stand side by side with the steady hum of modern tourism, the grubby reality of overbuilding, overpopulation, greed and corruption.

Prefaced with the tale of San Dimitri, there are hints of old legends, of 16th-century piracy and barbary slave traders; and in the  21st century, all is not rosy out at sea, as one man is about to discover.

When Gus Harper, a former submariner from Għarb, pulls a girl from the sea while out late-night fishing, he disturbs the far-reaching threads of an international smuggling racket which impacts people from the Middle East to the US. It threatens to drown them all.

With engaging and intriguing characters, including a cardinal, an influential widow, a mysterious Polish handyman and an employee at the US embassy in Valletta, this is a warm-hearted novel that’s pacey and exciting without being overly gritty.

As the story unravels with unexpected twists, there’s hope, fear, love, pathos and good people who all pull together despite the risks that imperil their quiet existence. Although Gozo is blessed with a cloudless forget-me-not blue sky and sunlight dancing on glistening cerulean water, “the sea is a beautiful mistress with a soft touch and a hard heart”.

There may be “cascading bougainvillaea in brilliant shades of magenta and orange”, feisty festa fireworks and a colourful international kite festival, but the island is also home to “a hidden nerve centre, a waypoint for human misery”. The contrast between the glory of the Mediterranean landscape and the shady world of society’s underbelly is stark.

The author PT Leonard

As the lines of politics, business and crime blur, and the danger builds, who is true to their word and who is a traitor? While fictional, this is a narrative of our times which reminds us of the misery wrought by human trafficking, the evils inflicted by the few on their fellow man, and the vast scale of illegal and inhumane operations that span the globe.

Here in Malta, it’s also a timely reminder that many of the people who end up on these islands, drawn from many corners of the globe, have an interesting, surprising or perhaps sorrowful back story.

They’re brought together by their choice to be here in Malta and their appreciation for the people and communities, the warm welcomes and lives they – like the characters in the book – have found here.

And last but not least, this is also the beautifully written story of a remarkable dog, Arty. Introduced as Gus’s equal at the very start of the book, it’s soon clear that Arty has her own intriguing back story: she is “quite comfortable jumping out of planes or helicopters” and “may have logged more actual combat hours than he had”.

Loyal, intelligent and brave, she is rather like Timmy from the Famous Five, rewritten for a story for adults.  Who wouldn’t fall for her, hook, line and sinker? It’s a magical combination!

Some of the English-language novels published in Malta suffer from a lack of polish – not because the authors here are any less talented than elsewhere in the English speaking world, but because they don’t benefit from the wisdom of experienced international agents keenly attuned to the market who guide them through multiple rewrites before their idea even reaches the desk of a global publisher promising worldwide distribution. It’s simply a matter of scale.

And so that’s what makes the Tide of Shadows especially remarkable. Although it’s a home-grown debut, it’s perfectly honed and it appears all set to hold its own on the international stage. I look forward to seeing it on the shelves alongside Nicholas Monserrat’s The Kappillan of Malta and The Sword and the Scimitar by David Ball for a long time to come.