Yosanne Vella will launch her publication Women in 18th Century Malta (SKS Publishers) at the Ġgantija Temples, Xagħra Gozo on Friday 3 November at 3pm with a public lecture on on the subject at the very spot where French artist Jean Jean-Pierre Houël captured Gozitan women picking cotton  at the back of the Megalithic Temples during a tour of Malta, Sicily and Lipari beween 1776-1779.  Maltese and Gozitan women then featured prominently in a flourishing cotton industry spread around the Maltese islands. The historian has been researching Maltese women in the 18th century for the past 30 years. The public is invited to attend.

Women in 18th Century Malta brings together various aspects of women’s lives in 18th century Malta including the work they did, their involvement in religion and magic as well as  Maltese women’s interaction and encounters with other members of their society, their crimes as well as when they themselves fell victims of crime. All the evidence shows that the attitude of Maltese society towards women with regard their family honour, social and legal status, position in the family and in religious matters was no different from any other South European Catholic country..

The front cover of this unique publication features Houël’s painting which has been exhibited at the Heritage Museum in St Petersburg since it was obtained by Catherine the Great of Russia. The publication will be on sale at the SKS Publisers Stand during the Malta Book Festival between 8-12 November at the Mediterranean Conference Centre for the special price of €20 instead of €25.