This is a delightful, unpretentious book which, with its loose-leaf ribbed-back binding ideally serves as a companion as one walks around Valletta following the indications as offered by the author.

The book takes one street at a time, beginning with St Ursula Street down to the end, turning up St Paul Street, down Merchants’ Street, and continuing up and down till it reaches West Street, after which it does the transversal streets in similar fashion, beginning with South Street down to North Street ending in the Perimeter Road.

Of course, every author of a guidebook puts in his or her own preferences. In this case, the author’s interest is in everything that relates to religion. That Valletta has so many churches is well-known, but not that it has so many corner statues, niches even with private homes, and corner niches where the people of the street may have gathered in other times to pray.

Besides this, the book tells readers, who may not be all that au courant with Catholic liturgy, all about bell ringing, processions, confraternities and devotions. There is a chapter about Strait Street, to be sure, but this has more descriptions of statues and niches than of the bars that gave the street its notoriety.

The book has to stop every time it mentions a saint and give a potted description of the saint’s life and what he is prayed for. At the end, the book recaps by giving us again a list of a group of saints known as the Fourteen Holy Helpers and their representations in Valletta.

Nor does the book enlighten readers about the many ghost stories about houses in Valletta. Right at the beginning, at the top of St Ursula Street, there is an abandoned house which is reputed to be haunted.

Again, just to remain on this street, the book gives a beautiful description of the history of the intricate niche on the side of the Ta’ Giezu church, saying it was carved by a murderer but then omits to identify, for instance, the bishop’s house a bit further on.

Not many of us pass through Valletta’s streets in full knowledge of what we are passing through. This book serves to remind us of the very rich heritage we take so for granted.

Nor does the book include (this is a sore point with me) the numerous authors who have graced Valletta by living there, such as Sir Walter Scott, Coleridge, etc. Nor the hotel where later Italian PM Crispi spent as an exile in Malta.

But these are details. Those who do not know Valletta that much, and also those who (think they) know it, will find this book a delightful treasure trove.