The Stories That Shape Us, by Saviour Pirotta

 When readers ask me what books from my childhood inspired me to become a writer, my answer is always the same. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Treasure Island and Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth. The reasons I give are as follows: CS Lewis introduced me to high fantasy; In Treasure Island I met the first antihero; a baddy that had elements of good, someone I actually wanted to meet in real life. And Rosemary Sutcliff taught me that good historical fiction can be timeless. It uses the past to speak about the human condition in the present. 

But, writing film synopses for my historical fiction recently, I realised there is another book that has had a direct influence on my work. That's Ben Hur by Lew Wallace. Most people my age are familiar with the story, probably because they've watched the film version starring Charlton Heston in the title role. I too was introduced to the story via William Wyler's 1959 film, although I was only a baby during its first release. I saw it when it was re-released in cinemas in the mid-sixties.  The story was dismissed as passe by the critics even when the book was first first published in November, 1880. But readers, and later, filmgoers too connected with it in their millions.  The larger than life characters, the setting, the photography, the dialogue, a humdinger of a chariot race and a cracking plot involving friendships turned sour, revenge and ultimately forgiveness made a massive impression on 7 year old Salvatore sitting in his local cinema on a Saturday afternoon.

As I grew up and discovered nouvelle-vague cinema, kitchen sink drama and mid-20th century authors, Judah Ben Hur and his frenemy Messala faded from my mind. Or did they?  Looking through my own work, I can see the direct influence of this timeless story on my writing.

In my Stone Age novel The Stolen Spear and my Golden Islamic Age story The Golden Horsemen of Baghdad,  the main characters make a mistake that has terrible consequences and which sets them on a journey of self discovery and redemption. Like Ben Hur, Thrax in my Ancient Greek Mysteries, is obsessed with finding his lost mother.  Jabir's mother and sisters in The Golden Horsmen are exiled to a cave outside their village, just like Ben Hur's family.

Powerful stories from our childhood tend to stay with us even when we think we have forgotten them. Their leitmotifs help shape our thought process and our world view, especially when they mostly deal with universal truths and imponderables. We often feel impotent when faced by a world that seems to be motivated by greed and anger. But there is something vitally important we writers can do. We can tell out stories to help point young minds in the right direction.

Saviour Pirotta's latest book, The Jackal Graveyard is the third instalment in The Nile Adventures. Follow him on instagram @saviour2858, on X/twitter @spirotta, on threads at saviour2858 and on bluesky @saviour.bsky.social.