Margaret Staples was nine years old at the beginning of 1939 when her father was posted from England to the British colony of Malta with the Royal Engineers. Margaret and her four siblings thought they were in paradise, but everything changed when the Second World War broke out in September of that year.

Hitler wanted to take control of Malta for its strategic position, right in the middle of the Mediterranean. To fulfil this desire, the Axis dropped more bombs on this tiny island than anywhere else on the planet. When that didn't work, they sank the ships taking supplies to the island, hoping to force capitulation through starvation.

This is Margaret's story of survival, told by her daughter Linda.