First published 1970. Sphere paperback, 1989, pp 383, c.145,000 words.
This is one of Master’s late works and a very unusual one. It is a history of The Rock of Gibraltar told through a series of fictional stories, each of which is introduced with some short factual historical background. Masters is best known for his novels set in India during the British colonial period so this is a substantial departure.
The first story concerns a group of Neanderthals, who are known to have inhabited the place, who encounter some passing Homo Sapiens. The episodes often feature the Jewish people who lived on or near the rock and they are mostly linked with a carved object that gets re-found or passed down through the episodes. Masters doesn’t shy away from the dodgy deals, perfidy, chicanery, lucky chance, and close-run things that have shaped the peninsula’s history.
Masters is sympathetic to Spanish claims on Gibraltar and suggests that Britain no longer has a strategic interest in it. His final episode is set in the near future where a deal is done to transfer sovereignty. One might have expected Masters to have presented a pro-British viewpoint as he had served with distinction as a British officer during WW 2, but he certainly doesn’t.
Masters is an accomplished storyteller, and this is an accessible read. The individual stories are entertaining, although their individually limited scope leaves little room for character development. I have no idea on the accuracy of the history presented here. Clearly the future he predicts has yet to come to pass. As a lightweight introduction to the history of Gibraltar, this is a diverting read.
© William John Graham, May 2022