There is an Italian chapel on the island of Lamb Holm in Orkney, Scotland. Strong winds buffet it, heavy rain batters it, the summer sun beats relentlessly on it. Still it stands, a mute testimony to peace and understanding. Kirsten McKenzie takes the story of this Italian chapel constructed by World War II prisoners and puts names and faces to it, bringing alive a legend. The story begins with a BBC documentary being shot about the chapel. Only one other prisoner has responded to the invitation – Bertoldo Zanini. This is how the book The Chapel at the edge of the World begins.
Woven with care
It is the story of Emilio, whose passion for art and beauty helps him get over the war and misery around him. A story of love and trust, war and peace, learning and understanding. A carefully woven story around a chapel that stands at the edge of the world.
It's World War II. Fiery speeches of Il Duce bring out the best in the young men of Italy and they troop off to war. And so it is that Emilio, an artist, is also conscripted and shipped off to north Africa. Emilio leaves behind his sweetheart Rosa, with promises of quick victory and return. But reality is different. Emilio finds the conditions in Africa unbearable – the heat, the insects, the dust…nothing he is used to. He soon befriends Bertoldo. He finds in him a strange, moody companion.
Kirsten McKenzie's descriptions are stark and desolate, almost taking the reader into the battlefield. “The flies had become excited. There had been a sudden rise in the pitch and frequency of their buzzing. Their bumping and scampering on sunburned skin had become intense, panicked, irritating.”
Emilio and his mates are soon captured. They are thankful for their capture as they are so ill equipped and badly trained that it is not likely that they would last in the desert conditions. But the prison camp is worse.
Prisoners are transported from Africa to Orkney in Scotland. They find that intense cold like intense heat is unbearable. With food rations cut by a demanding Commanding Officer, ill-equipped living quarters and harsh weather conditions, there is still nothing to cheer about. But then they are in the midst of a war and they cannot expect luxury.
Recounting Emilio's life on the island, Mckenzie does not forget Rosa, who helps her mother run their lakeside hotel. But Rosa is restless. She does not want to be stuck in the village watching life pass her by. With information garnered from a friend she finds work in a print shop in Milano. Her childhood friend Pietro also works there. Things are not what they seem at the print shop. Soon she is sucked into a vortex of underground activity.
Moment of reckoning
Back at the prison camp, a priest comes to the island to celebrate mass with the Italian prisoners every Sunday. The dark mess hut serves as the church. Mckenzie describes the moment of realisation. “Emilio listened. But the words fell limply into the dank silence. He did not feel comforted or sustained. The room around him was practically bare. The windows were hung with dirty oilcloths. The altar was an old kitchen table, slung with a threadbare red cloth.”
The men decide they would make it better. Emilio with his keen artistic sense, pictures a beautiful chapel that invites people to worship. His excitement of his vision is passed on to the others and soon everyone is involved in the project.
The war is over, but there is no news about what is to happen to the prisoners. They continue the work on their chapel. Slowly shaping it and making it a reality. And then one day it is time for them to go home. “As they looked out of the back of the truck, they could just see the outline of their camp, twelve grey huts and one white chapel. A cardboard bell swung in the concrete bell tower.”
A well written debut novel that brings to the reader the essence of the island and the moods of the prisoners. A very moving, humane story about a war that was merciless and brutal.
The Chapel at the End of the World; Kirsten McKenzie; Hachette; Rs.375
