Thumasi Zahra

In sixteenth-century Birgu, Malta, Thumasi Zahra grows up among galleys, dockworkers, captives, noble households and the Knights of St John. The son of a harbour labourer, gifted with languages and raised in a deep Catholic faith, he learns early that mercy is easy to praise and far harder to practise in a world shaped by rank, violence and war.As Thumasi moves between the harbour and the houses of those far above his station, he is drawn towards a young noblewoman whose world is closed to him by class, family duty and the growing hostility of her brother. A wounded Spanish knight sees promise in him, while loyalties formed across the boundaries of household and rank begin to carry consequences none of them can easily contain.With the Ottoman threat gathering over Malta, Thumasi must learn what courage, loyalty and mercy demand of him before history closes in on them all.Thumasi Zahra is a historical novel of conscience, family, faith and forbidden affection, set in Malta before the Great Siege of 1565.