ARC BOOK REVIEW & ART FOR MAY

THE ITALIAN CHAPEL by Philip Paris (Kindle Edition)

A novelised version of the true story of how Italian POWs built a concrete chapel on the Island of Lamb Holm in the Orkneys - islands off the north-eastern tip of Scotland.

It takes place during WW2, but it's not the usual kind of prisoner of war story.

Google 'The Italian Chapel' to find many images and
be quite astonished by what they achieved under great difficulties
and the beautiful art they created.

............

WW2 was an important part of my childhood, and this accounts for my interest in books like this, but I think perhaps you might enjoy it.  Real events were  interspersed with the inclusion of semi-fictionalised 'human interest' elements to keep the reader's interest.  A story of two halves, married together for dramatic effect.

The documentary details were the most interesting for me, and the imagined conversations and events did move the story along and include some humour, but two or three of the fictional events seemed to have  been created just for the story and didn't feel 'right'. When I read the author's notes at the end of the book it turned out these were in fact the sections that had been invented or altered.

The story is told through a few main characters and their experiences, and describe how all the wonderful artwork was created.  The writing is fairly 'ordinary', but very easy reading.

Strangely there was a link to my father's WW2 experiences, as happened in my February review for The Last Telegram.  When my father was in the Royal Navy on the new HMS Prince of Wales at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, a German submarine sank the HMS Royal Oak at anchor.  833 of the crew died, and survivors were rescued by other RN ships.  My mother told me that many of Dad's friends were on the Royal Oak and he was absolutely broken-hearted for the rest of his life.  This part of the story was told very touchingly through the experiences of the Orkney people.

I'm glad I read it, and pleased that I know about the Italian Chapel both from the book and from being prompted to check out the images and story on the internet.

For readers in the USA it turns out there is an Italian Chapel in Letterkenny, USA.  There is also one in Henllan in North Wales - a little nearer to visit than the Orkneys.   I couldn't find out what these are like, but I doubt if they are as famous and as much visited as the Italian Chapel.

ARTWORK INSPIRED BY THE BOOK

My artwork is far from anything I've done before, and a complete surprise to me because it's definitely not something I would normally even think of painting.  The inspiration that kept coming to mind was that I should make a small painting of St Francis who is mentioned at the beginning and the end of the book.

I forgot to take a photo of the original drawing, and even a quick glance at this half-way stage will show you that I forgot something else as well.

Acrylic on watercolour paper - Jez

I imagine that St Frances at this stage of his life was not in any way vain about his appearance or his shabby robe.  His halo has not photographed on this completed piece as brightly as on the underpainting - no sun that day.  

And the senior moment that led to my great mistake?  In my eagerness to give him untidy curly hair I completely painted over the shaven part of his tonsure.  Lack of time and fear of ruining what I had done made me decide to leave it in the hope that he and you will understand.  I shall definitely put this right when I have more time.

St Frances looks rather pensive in my painting.  Perhaps he's thinking of all the problems being created for wild creatures by man's effect on the environment.

I tried to imagine how the painting would look after centuries of hanging in a secluded corner of a church, with all the effects of smoke from candles and ageing of the paint.  For this digital alteration I added a special effect that gave me just the feeling I wanted, and I think I like this version best.