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My father’s house book review: irish priest who defied nazis in rome.

Twisty Second World War thriller follows Hugh O’Flaherty's running battle of wits with a Gestapo leader

BY Jenni Frazer

• Second World War

My Father’s House By Joseph O’Connor Harvill Secker, £20

Joseph O’Connor’s new novel, My Father’s House, is two things: a twisty thriller whose outcome is hard to guess; and an exquisitely rendered piece of literature from a masterful writer.

The novel, set in Rome in 1943, is based on the extraordinary true story of a Catholic priest, Hugh O’Flaherty, and the running battle of wits he and a team of unlikely conspirators played against Rome’s terrifying Gestapo leader, Paul Hauptmann.

Those that run the Escape Line — an initiative Hauptmann is determined to stamp out — are gathered together in what becomes known as the Choir, under the tutelage of Monsignor O’Flaherty.

They include a widowed Italian countess, a flamboyant British diplomat to the Vatican and a Jewish Londoner jazz musician-turned-inspired scrounger, and they do actually sing at music rehearsals, conducted by the Monsignor. But all the while, he is distributing detailed instructions to each for what to do on the next Rendimento, the mission to help save thousands of Allied men.

O’Connor endows his O’Flaherty — whom he warns us is a fictionalised version of the man himself — with a near- encyclopaedic knowledge of the boltholes and rabbit warrens of Rome and Vatican City. The latter’s importance to the story is, of course, because of the Vatican’s supposed neutrality in the war, a neutrality echoed by that of Ireland.

9781787300835

My Father's House

This is a love letter to Rome, Italy, and Ireland, by turns heart-rending, comedic and awe-inspiring. O’Connor has a glorious way with words: he writes of Cahersiveen in County Kerry as a place “where a bottle of tomato ketchup would be considered exotic and possession of a clove of garlic would have you burned as a witch”.

Or take Delia Kiernan, a famed singer in Ireland before becoming wife of the senior Irish diplomat to the Vatican, recalling her first meeting with O’Flaherty: “His means of transport that night was his motorcycle.

Here he’s ambling up the steps to the residence and he grey with the dust from boots to helmet, huge leather gloves on him like a flying ace, and he blessing himself at the Lourdes water font on the hall stand.

As though a priest dressed like that was the most everyday sight you ever saw. And the bang of motor oil off him.” Ah, yes, as my old art editor used to say, he can throw a word to a pig.

There is a guest appearance by an outraged Pope, furious at O’Flaherty’s “insubordination” when it comes to visiting prisoners of war in Rome, fascinating in the light of what was later learned about the behaviour of the wartime pontiff in relation to the Nazi regime.

And as each chapter heading steers the reader to the countdown before the frighteningly risky next Rendimento, we become utterly invested in the safety and the ultimate fate of “our” Monsignor and the motley members of the Choir.

No subject relating to priests and faith is left untouched by O’Connor’s delicate style. A delicious hymn to love, food, and courage. Bravo.

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MY FATHER’S HOUSE

by Joseph O’Connor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 31, 2023

A deeply emotional read. And when the action is over, the coda could water an atheist’s eye.

A priest in Vatican City leads a perilous rescue effort surrounded by Rome’s Nazi occupiers.

In 1943 and 1944, Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann terrorizes a starving Rome. But he is forbidden to enter Vatican City, at one-fifth of a square mile, the tiniest country in the world. If Jews or escaped Allied POWs can manage to get there, they may have a chance to be smuggled to safety. The novel is inspired by a real historical figure named Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, an Irish envoy to the Vatican. O’Flaherty and a small group go to great lengths to secretly aid as many people as they can. Discovery means death, so the group uses elaborate ruses—they form a choir as a cover, and O’Flaherty quietly passes along individual instructions during choir practice. They speak in code—“Books in the Library” means escapees being protected. It’s a risky game they’re about. Hitler only tolerates the Vatican’s existence and could wipe it out in the blink of an eye, so O’Flaherty’s superiors are deeply uneasy about the monsignor’s activities. Meanwhile, Hauptmann knows there is an Escape Line, and he is eager to prove it. And given that his “favoured interrogation tool is the blowtorch,” his odds look better than O’Flaherty’s. But the “nuisance of a priest” is not nicknamed Hughdini for nothing, and he is moral to his core. If the story were told in typical thriller style, emphasizing action over language, it would still be good, but O’Connor’s phrasings are a special joy. One unnamed cardinal is “a long drink of cross-eyed, buck-toothed misery if ever there was, he’d bore the snots off a wet horse.” On Christmas Eve, three bitterly cold German soldiers are invited indoors for some holiday cheer. They are “fine examples of the super-race”: One of them is “a haddock-faced, lumpenshouldered, Wurst -fingered corner boy, that ugly the tide wouldn’t take him out.” And the Vatican Embassy has “rats you could saddle.”

Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-60945-835-5

Page Count: 440

Publisher: Europa Editions

Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022

HISTORICAL FICTION | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | SUSPENSE | HISTORICAL THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | GENERAL FICTION

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BOOK REVIEW

by Joseph O’Connor

edited by Joseph O’Connor

A CONSPIRACY OF BONES

by Kathy Reichs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020

Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.

Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice ( The Bone Collection , 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”

Pub Date: March 17, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020

GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | DETECTIVES & PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS | SUSPENSE | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER

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by Kathy Reichs

CLIVE CUSSLER GHOST SOLDIER

by Mike Maden ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2024

Exciting adventure that’s worthy of the Cussler name.

The Oregon crew takes on a villain who bears a long-festering grudge.

In 1945, a captured American soldier unwillingly took part in a ghastly experiment. In the current day, a malign force has built on that research and plans to wreak unholy vengeance on Guam and, ultimately, on the United States. A mysterious, much-feared man called the Vendor, an arms purveyor whose increasingly dangerous weapons have just slaughtered soldiers in Niger, is testing his killing craft in the Indian Ocean. The Vendor’s reach extends as far as Kosovo and the Celebes Sea off the Philippines, where North Koreans try out some of his handiwork. Luckily, a modest-looking cargo ship plies the seas. It’s the Oregon , with all the internal wizardry one might wish for. It has a Cray computer, Cordon Bleu–trained chefs, and plenty of amenities to keep a top-notch crew dedicated. The seawater-powered ship can even change its outward appearance to disguise itself as the lowliest third-world rust bucket. In charge of this marvel is Juan Cabrillo, the protagonist. The crew of the Oregon are independent contractors and undertake an urgent mission from the CIA to investigate arms trafficking by the Taliban. That leads to an inevitable collision with the Vendor, whose tentacles reach far and wide. This might spell the end for Cabrillo because the Vendor “had proven himself unequaled in unarmed combat.” The Oregon Files series is always fun, and this episode is no exception. Cabrillo is a terrific leader in top physical shape, but he and the ship itself are tested to their limits. Of course, some of Oregon ’s features beggar belief, but never you mind. They fit in well with the now-and-then over-the-top writing: “A giant piece of red-hot aluminum sliced through Juan’s fragile canopy like a drunken samurai’s katana through a rice-paper wall.” It’s hard to read a simile like that and not stop and smile. And in the same action sequence, the hero hits an object “like a speeding hockey forward cross-checking a parked Zamboni.” Ouch. It all “hurt like the dickens,” which is about as salty as the language gets.

Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024

ISBN: 9780593719244

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024

SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE

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by Mike Maden

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The Best Fiction Books » Historical Fiction » New Historical Fiction

My father's house: a novel, by joseph o'connor.

🎯 A bestselling book on Five Books  in 2024

Recommendations from our site

“It’s certainly a thriller. It’s tense, tense, tense. But the big thing in this novel is not just the tension, it’s the voices. Joseph O’Connor gives a masterclass in the different voices of the people gathered around the priest Hugh O’Flaherty to help him organise and run the Escape Line—the escape routes out of Italy for POWs and others being pursued by the Nazis. If you feel you know Rome, you’ll find much to enjoy in the twists and turns of the streets, the hidden alleys, the sudden expanses and that ever-present ‘seethe of black water’, the Tiber. It’s full Rome immersion.” Read more...

The Best Historical Fiction of 2024

Katharine Grant , Historical Novelist

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The new life: a novel by tom crewe, hungry ghosts: a novel by kevin jared hosein, my father's house: a novel by joseph o'connor, in the upper country: a novel by kai thomas, absolutely and forever by rose tremain, the house of doors by tan twan eng.

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#BookReview My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #JosephOConnor #MyFathersHouse #RomeEscapeLineTrilogy #PGCBooks

From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Star of the Sea and winner of the 2021 Irish Book Awards Book of the Year for Shadowplay , comes a gripping and atmospheric new novel set in occupied Rome.

September 1943: German forces have Rome under their control. Gestapo boss Paul Hauptmann rules over the Eternal City with vicious efficiency. Hunger is widespread. Rumors fester. The war’s outcome is far from certain. Diplomats, refugees, Jews, and escaped Allied prisoners flee for protection into Vatican City, the world’s smallest state, a neutral, independent country nestled within the city of Rome. A small band of unlikely friends led by a courageous Irish priest is drawn into deadly battle of wits as they attempt to aid those seeking refuge.

My Father’s House is inspired by the extraordinary true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who, together with his accomplices, risked his life to smuggle Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy right under the nose of his Nazi nemesis. Suspenseful and beautifully written, My Father’s House tells an unforgettable story of love, faith, sacrifice, and courage.

Suspenseful, immersive, and intriguing!

My Father’s House  is an absorbing, gripping tale set in Vatican City during WWII that follows Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, an Irish envoy to the Vatican who, after witnessing the oppression and horror encountered by the allies, resistance, and Jewish people captured by the Nazi’s in Italy under the direction of Obersturmbannführer Hauptmann, devises an escape plan codenamed “ Rendimento ” with a small group of individuals who call themselves “ The Choir ” to help as many victims as possible escape through the secret passageways, tunnels and safety offered by the Holy See on the night of Christmas Eve.

The prose is polished and eloquent. The characters are creative, driven, and determined. And the plot unravels and intertwines briskly into a sweeping saga of life, loss, betrayal, secrets, espionage, danger, deception, survival, coordination, ethics, and tragedy.

Overall, My Father’s House  is an absorbing, mysterious, brilliantly plotted tale by O’Connor inspired by real-life events that, at its heart, highlights that preventing evil from running amok often involves moral dilemmas, exceptional courage, strength, action, and beyond all else, sacrifice.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

About Joseph O'Connor

Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin. He is the author of the novels Cowboys and Indians (short-listed for the Whitbread Prize), Desperadoes , The Salesman , Inishowen , Star of the Sea and Redemption Falls , as well as a number of bestselling works of non-fiction.

He was recently voted ‘Irish Writer of the Decade’ by the readers of Hot Press magazine. He broadcasts a popular weekly radio diary on RTE’s Drivetime With Mary Wilson and writes regularly for The Guardian Review and The Sunday Independent. In 2009 he was the Harman Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Baruch College, the City University of New York.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

Website | Goodreads

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MY FATHER’S HOUSE

September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. The war’s outcome is far from certain. An Irish priest, Hugh O’Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, the world’s smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. Here Hugh brings together an unlikely band of friends to hide the vulnerable under the noses of the enemy. But Hauptmann’s net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. By Christmas time, it’s too late to turn back. Based on an extraordinary true story, My Father’s House is a powerful literary thriller from a master of historical fiction. Joseph O’Connor has created an unforgettable novel of love, faith and sacrifice, and what it means to be truly human in the most extreme circumstances.

“A tremendous literary thriller.” LE MONDE

“A masterpiece.” FINTAN O’TOOLE, IRISH TIMES

“Masterly. Sublime. This is a literary thriller of the highest order.” OBSERVER

“A masterpiece.” SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

“A spectacular, thrilling novel. Magnificent.” PETER KEMP, THE SUNDAY TIMES

“A novel that will make your heart sing.” THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

“Magnificent. O’Connor’s language flows with a beauty worthy of Rome itself.” SUNDAY BUSINESS POST

“Brilliantly done.” ARENA

“SO beautifully written, a masterclass in ‘voices’ and an EXTREMELY TENSE thriller. It is magnificent.” MARIAN KEYES

“Gripping. A masterful and seamless blend of fact and fiction.” SARAH GILMARTIN, IRISH TIMES

“Riveting.” BOOKS IRELAND

“Electrifying.” IRISH EXAMINER

“O’Connor is on stellar form with this ensemble thriller… while the story’s inbuilt tension urges you on, it’s the sheer vigour of O’Connor’s beautifully turned phrases that really makes the book sing… an expert storyteller.” DAILY MAIL

“Superb. I’ll be stunned if I read a better novel this year.” PAUL HOWARD

“Expertly plotted… Brilliantly paced… O’Connor brings vividly to life a man who stands up to be counted. It is hard not to be captivated by his presence in this hugely satisfying book, from its explosive beginning to its bittersweet end.” WASHINGTON POST

An Amazon.Com Editors’ Pick, 2023

“A mesmerising story of valour and deep human kindness.” SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

“A tale worth re-telling, adorned as it is by the brilliants of O’Connor’s impressionistic writing.” THE TIMES, Best New Thrillers

“A masterwork… so urgent, so incredibly alive… A searing and beautiful example of storytelling’s infinite importance.” DONAL RYAN

“Gripping, compelling and utterly brilliant. O’Connor’s gift for exquisite language shines through.” LIZ NUGENT

“I was utterly engrossed from start to finish. The writing hums with energy. Such a gloriously vivid depiction of a Rome that is both familiar and altogether strange. And a powerful story of ordinary humans showing extraordinary bravery and tenacity. Bravo!” DANIELLE McLAUGHLIN

“I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoyed it. Everything about it spoke to me. The characters, the location and the story itself. It is that rare thing, a literary page-turner. There were times when I was almost reading with my eyes closed because I couldn’t handle the suspense. Rome at such a difficult time, but full of beauty and courage. My Father’s House is a terrific read.” CHRISTINE DWYER HICKEY

“Joseph O’Connor is a very great artist and storyteller.” SEBASTIAN BARRY

“Breathtakingly good writing. O’Connor puts you right there, centre stage in the story, and never lets you go.” PETER JAMES

“A compelling work of fiction.” RADIO TIMES

“There are few living writers who can take us back in time so assuredly, with such sensual density, through such gorgeous sentences. Joseph O’Connor is a wonder.” PETER CAREY , twice winner of the Booker Prize

“Intensely atmospheric, immersive and thrilling” LITERARY REVIEW

“A thrilling new novel, and a brilliant description of Rome during wartime.” DAILY EXPRESS

“A very powerful and gripping book, and a terrific evocation of Rome at this time.” MATTHEW KNEALE , author of ENGLISH PASSENGERS

“Hugely impressive and utterly haunting.” SUNDAY MIRROR

“Riveting… a storytelling tour de force. This is top-drawer WWII fiction.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY , starred review

“O’Connor’s phrasings are a special joy… A deeply emotional read.” KIRKUS REVIEWS , starred review

“A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly – at times, astonishingly – a story of transience, loss and true loyalty.” GUARDIAN

“O’Connor is a masterful storyteller. Superb!” BOOKLIST, starred review

“Triumphant.” THE EXAMINER

“Glorious.” SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

“Impressive and pleasurable. The diverse ventriloquism of My Father’s House evokes the city in peril with wonderful vitality.” FINANCIAL TIMES

“Superb craftsmanship. Finally – and triumphantly – My Father’s House is an intimate drama that illuminates both the fragility and the wonder of unlikely human connections forged in adversity and, in some cases, enduring for a lifetime.” WALL STREET JOURNAL

“A triumph, the first literary classic of 2023. It’s the kind of hold-my-calls story that armchairs were invented for and will doubtless have won awards by the end of the year.” HOT PRESS

“A thriller of engrossing urgency.” IRISH INDEPENDENT

“Thrilling… Based on true events, this tense, gripping narrative is rendered in beautifully evocative prose.” MAIL ON SUNDAY

“The novel’s evocative scene-setting, its propulsive narration and its powerful depiction of bravery and unity in extremis, all make for an engrossing read.” THE TELEGRAPH

“Precisely choreographed. We follow the characters eagerly through high-stakes jeopardy.” GUARDIAN

“O’Connor is a fine novelist… By any standards an extraordinary tale.” SPECTATOR

“Rome is perhaps the ideal setting for a historical novel, and Joseph O’Connor explores its mysteries in gripping detail.” AMERICA Magazine

“An irresistible work of historical fiction.” RTE Guide

“A masterpiece.” STRONG WORDS MAGAZINE

“Never has the incredible story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty been fictionalised in such a vividly immersive experience. A powerful work of art.” THE KERRYMAN

“Multi-voiced and multi-layered, doused generously in authorial genius.” SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

‘We’re here to stand for better’: Joseph O’Connor introduces My Father’s House

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Book club: My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor

Richard lamey  reads joseph o’connor’s thriller my father’s house , based on the actions of mgr hugh o’flaherty in nazi-occupied rome in 1943.

THIS stylish, gripping, and inspiring book, My Father’s House , is based on a true story of courage made manifest through the power of friendship. The title refers both to the fragile safety that the Vatican City provided for those resisting Nazism and, brilliantly, to the way in which Allied service personnel, refugees, and Jews were in hiding in “many mansions” all across the city.

It is 1943. Italy is slowly being liberated by American and Commonwealth forces, but Rome is still occupied. People are hidden away by Mgr Hugh O’Flaherty and his network of friends, until it seems that you can’t open a coal cellar without finding a roomful of British soldiers. (In reality, O’Flaherty’s network is credited with saving nearly 7000 lives.)

Desperate to assert control, Berlin sends a new Gestapo Head to break O’Flaherty’s network and terrify the city into obedience. He is Paul Hauptmann.

O’Flaherty himself is a complex and believable hero. Part of O’Connor’s genius is that we hear O’Flaherty’s own voice and see him through the narration of his friends. He is a papal diplomat brought up in rural Ireland in the bloody years of Irish Independence. We learn to know him through the warm tales of his life as a priest fresh to Rome, and his delight and ease in the city. He came to be friends with the people who are risking their lives alongside him. The mix of first- and third-person narratives feels fresh, insightful, and true.

His journey into heroism is inevitable once he is faced with the stark brutality of a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp and the craven ambivalence of the papacy. He was brought up to despise British soldiers; now he cannot but rescue them from the Hauptmanns of this world. The practical concerns of having enough money to buy food for everyone in hiding are constant. He is surrounded by dear friends who sparkle and shine, but he is also set apart by the burden of responsibility which he uniquely carries for his friends and every one of the “books” in hiding. He is aged by the knowledge of what will follow if the network is compromised.

O’Flaherty and Hauptmann are consciously set up as rivals in scenes reminiscent of the film Heat . Both men are haunted by the possibility of failure and driven by how much rests on their success.

Hauptmann embodies something of the terrible paradoxes in the heart of Germany in the 1930s — cultured and brutal, urbane and ruthless. He brings his family with him, living a troubling double life as a dealer of arbitrary death and a father. At times, you have to stop to think hard about what is happening, because it is so awful and yet, in the story, mundane. The narrative moves on, but someone’s torture is beginning, or their life ends. Towards the end of the book, that gap shuts horribly as, casually and meaninglessly, Hauptmann executes someone whom we thought he liked.

O’Connor is one of the most talented and respected writers of his generation. This is his tenth novel. He immerses the reader by revealing only what the characters can see and know, nothing more. A key example of this is O’Flaherty’s chaotic and confusing emergency night-time mission, delivering cash around the city, which forms the climax of the book. It goes on for page after page with little sense of where O’Flaherty is heading. It is an unusual and intense style, which draws you into the moment because of the danger that could lie around the next corner. We don’t know what waits, and neither does our hero.

O’Connor has a real gift for memorable scenes that live long in the memory and feel almost like a short story — the “choir” practising in a disused room and seizing a moment of harmony and happiness while creating their cover story; O’Flaherty hiding his notes away while under intense threat; the confrontation in the confessional; a network member realising that he does not have the courage that he needs to do the job that he volunteered for, and being met with understanding and sympathy by the rest of the network.

The voices of “the choir” who form the network are drawn affectionately and delicately. In some ways, the whole novel is a celebration of friendship. O’Connor also has consistent wit and lightness of touch — when, for example, some American servicemen insist on throwing balls from house to house across the street after they are told that they can’t go outside.

OTHER STORIES

Book club podcast: richard lamey on my father’s house by joseph o’connor.

This month’s choice is discussed with Sarah Meyrick

My Father’s House resonates because of the quality and confidence with which O’Connor writes, trusting his readers to pick up allusions and whispers, choosing always to show rather than tell. It resonates because, much as he describes the clash of good and evil, O’Connor still allows for complexity in the hearts of his main characters. It resonates because of the compelling pas de deux of Hauptmann and O’Flaherty, each of them carrying a burden that is slowly crushing them. It resonates because of the deep understanding and respect that are the lifeblood of the network.

Above all, it is a book that resonates because it retells a true story of courage, compassion, and defiance in dark days. (Readers who enjoy the story will find an excellent bibliography at the end of the novel to find out more about O’Flaherty.)

We still live in a world of great and seemingly immovable forces. O’Connor’s book is not only a great and memorable read: it is also a warning against passivity, an inspiration to courage, and an invitation to stand for the gospel, even when those in authority draw back. Canon Richard Lamey is the Rector of St Paul’s, Wokingham, and Area Dean of Sonning, in the diocese of Oxford.

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor is published by Harvill Secker at £20 ( Church Times Bookshop £18 ) ; 978-1-78730-082-8. Listen to Richard Lamey in conversation with Sarah Meyrick in this week’s Church Times podcast . This is a monthly series produced in association with the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature . 

MY FATHER’S HOUSE — SOME QUESTIONS

• How effective did you find the different voices that O’Connor uses to tell his story, and the different types of writing, e.g. newspaper interviews, letters, diaries, etc. What was the benefit of this? What was the cost?
• Which is your favourite scene in the book? Why does it work so well for you?
• The cover of the book says “Occupied Rome. One man takes a stand.” Is this a book about one man or a book about a group of friends? Or something else?
• What difference does it make to know that this book is based on real people and real events?
• The book concludes with a deep study of great Christian themes, concerning love and repentance and sacraments. What does it mean at the end that Hugh baptises Hauptmann, but will not hear his confession?

IN OUR next Book Club page, on 7 July, we will print extra information about our next book, Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. It is published by Faber & Faber at £8.99 ( £8.09 ) ; 978-0-571-36870-9).

Claire Keegan’s short novel Small Things Like These is set in a small Irish town in the mid-1980s. At the centre of the story is Bill Furlong, a coal merchant, who, in the busy weeks leading up to Christmas, works hard to ensure that he can provide for his five daughters. While delivering coal to the local convent, he encounters a girl in distress. This unsettling encounter causes him to question both his and the town’s ability to screen out the uncomfortable truths about the Madgalene laundries. The moral dilemma that then consumes him provides the novel with its dramatic tension. The author’s sparing prose reflects the monotony of the coal merchant’s life, while capturing place and emotion to great effect. A powerful novel with an emotional punch.

The Irish writer Claire Keegan grew up on a farm in Wexford before going on to study English and political science at Loyola University, New Orleans, at the age of 17. Her debut collection of short stories, Antarctica , won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and the William Trevor Prize. Her novella Foster is now included as a text for the Irish Leaving Certificate and was described by The Times as one of the top 50 works of fiction to be published in the 21st century. Her novel Small Things Like These was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker prize. Her award-winning stories have been translated into 30 languages.

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‘My Father’s House’ by Joseph O’Connor

Fiction – Kindle edition; Vintage Digital; 276 pages; 2023. Review copy via Netgalley.

It’s arguably unfashionable to write about priests doing good things, but that’s exactly what Irish writer Joseph O’Connor has done in his latest novel, My Father’s House .

The story is based on a real-life Irish Catholic priest, Hugh O’Flaherty (1898-1963), regarded as one of the unsung heroes of the Second World War. Based in Vatican City, he was part of the resistance movement against the Nazis and was so clever at evading the Gestapo he earned the nickname “the scarlet pimpernel”.

Wikipedia (entry here ) tells me that he was responsible for saving 6,500 Allied soldiers and Jews. He did this by finding them places to hide in houses, farms and convents and by setting up a clandestine “escape line” to get escaped British POWs back home.

Of course, O’Flaherty didn’t work alone. He was aided by a small team of covert operators, including Delia Murphy, a famous balladeer married to the Irish ambassador; British Major Sam Derry, an escaped POW; Sir D’Arcy Osborne, British Ambassador to the Holy See; and John May, who was Sir D’Arcy’s butler. Together they created a vast underground network that fed and housed and aided thousands trying to evade the Nazi’s stranglehold on Italy after the occupation of Rome and the fall of Fascist leader Mussolini.

O’Connor makes it clear in his acknowledgements that My Father’s House is a work of fiction and that he has taken liberties with facts, chronologies and so on, and that the characters presented, while based on real people, are “my versions and not to be relied upon by biographers or researchers”. He adds: “The novel is not intended to be a source of students of wartime Rome or the Nazi occupation of Italy.”

Yet, the story feels authentic. It reads like a literary thriller, but it’s packed with exuberant detail — of streetscapes, people and activities, for instance — to create scenes that are so vivid as to be cinematic. It would make an excellent movie.

But as ever with O’Connor’s work, his fictionalised account of this man and his daring exploits is almost as ambitious as O’Flaherty’s self-appointed mission. He adopts a “high literary” style to tell the priest’s story from multiple viewpoints using imagined BBC interview transcripts, for instance, made about 17 years after the war (and likely to mark the passing of the priest, who died aged 65), interspersing these with a straightforward narrative that moves forward from 19 December 1943 to Christmas Eve, 1943.

The 1943 narrative thread, told in alternate chapters, counts down to a mission known as the “Renimento”, which O’Flaherty carries out on Christmas Eve. The design of this storyline builds suspense and momentum. Even the second narrative thread, which is told from the perspective of key characters looking back on O’Flaherty’s exploits almost 20 years after the fact, continues to build that momentum.

Yet My Father’s House isn’t a bonafide page-turner because the pacing is slightly too uneven and sometimes gets bogged down in detail and literary flourishes. But I liked the pitting of the good priest against the bad Nazi — Paul Hauptmann, the Gestapo commander in Rome — and the cunning both men have to employ to get by, which adds a frisson to the story.

And the Coda, written in the form of a memoir by a contessa who knew O’Flaherty, rounds things off nicely by showing us how the humanity and quiet dignity of the man continued after the war ended. It’s a moving — and fitting — tribute.

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7 thoughts on “‘My Father’s House’ by Joseph O’Connor”

I like the sound of this, and yay, my library has it!

Yes, I think you might like this one.

Like Liked by 1 person

I was very pleasantly surprised by Shadowplay so must try and get hold of this one.

Shadowplay was amazing and so underrated. This one adopts a similar structure.

Now I know why this one has been running off the shelves at work! One of my regulars mentioned he (Joseph) is Sinead’s brother?

He is, indeed. I’ve been reading his work for years. Even got to interview him in person in 2011.

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My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor review – the priest who defied Nazis

A polyphonic retelling of how an Irish priest set out to rescue resistance fighters, PoWs and Jews from Nazi-occupied Rome

J oseph O’Connor’s earlier work was instrumental in demonstrating that modern historical fiction can mean novels of ideas and the state of the nation rather than works of populist nostalgia. Writing about second world war espionage and resistance is brave in this context – there are so many gold-lettered tales of homosocial derring-do sold to men in airports – but anyone buying My Father’s House with this expectation will find themselves expected to think as well as fantasise.

Like 2019’s Shadowplay , My Father’s House is woven through the historical record. There was indeed an Irish priest living in Vatican City involved in running an escape line for resistance fighters, escaped prisoners of war and Jewish people from Nazi-run Rome, and his collaborators share names and biographical details with characters in this book. O’Connor is clear that his characters are “not to be relied upon by biographers or researchers” and that sequences “presenting themselves as authentic documents are works of fiction”. The writer’s challenge is to balance the messy improbability of what actually happened with the structural requirements of the novel.

O’Connor achieves this balance partly through characterisation and voices strong enough that we eagerly follow them through uncertainty, mundanity and disappointment as well as high-stakes jeopardy. The novel is built out of the present-tense close third-person narrative of the priest, Hugh O’Flaherty, the technique historical fiction owes to Hilary Mantel , interspersed with fictional interviews conducted for a radio programme in 1963 with the seven people running the escape line under Hugh’s direction. All have distinctive and often very funny voices: they are Irish, English, Italian, aristocrats and shopkeepers.

O’Flaherty’s movements around Vatican City and Rome in the hours before the “Rendimento”, the movement of a large number of hidden refugees and resistance fighters out of the Nazi-held city, are precisely choreographed. On Christmas Eve and under the particular surveillance of Gestapo leader Paul Hauptmann, O’Flaherty needs to distribute large sums of money to people in hiding and organise their escape from the city. The plan relies on his knowledge of secret passageways, tunnels and backstreets, and on the competence and integrity of the inner circle and their collaborators and double agents across Rome, all working under the immediate threat of torture, death and reprisals. There are near misses, scenes of intense physical suffering and rising jeopardy, particularly as we also see vignettes of Hauptmann’s evening. So far, so much like a thriller, but O’Connor rejects voyeurism or titillation. Violence is indirectly conveyed in the destruction of a fine piano, the appearance of a full set of teeth.

This novel also has other work and broader interests. It’s a choral book in two senses: the group meets as a choir and rehearses chamber music to provide aural cover for whispered plans and communications, and the structure of the novel uses the idea of part-singing, each character having a voice and a tune, the sum more than the parts. O’Connor is playing with the possibilities of multiple narrators, and thinking also about plurality, reliability and the historical record: is a collection of witnesses more accurate than a solo narrator? With an Irish priest in Vatican City at the novel’s centre, there are also persistent questions about the idea and morality of neutrality, especially for the church. Hugo remembers his shameful foolishness in seeing “all political systems as more or less the same … the prattling of apes, designed to keep the lesser chimps down”. He learns from the occupation of Rome that “neutrality is the most extremist stance of all: without it, no tyranny can flourish”. And so, like other fictional priests before him – Graham Greene comes to mind, but there’s also a reference to TS Eliot ’s Murder in the Cathedral – O’Flaherty chooses between his vow of obedience and his conscience, every hour of every day and right up to the end, where the final twist is satisfyingly theological.

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This dazzling book about a priest fighting Nazis will keep you reading all night

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Joseph O’Connor is one of those novelists who can be an engrossing yarn spinner and also craft a sentence with a great attention to the cadence of the prose so you’re as impressed by the musicality of his ear as you are by the twists of his plot.

This one is a dazzling story and the setting is Rome during the German occupation – with the crucial difference that Vatican City, the domain of the Pope, is neutral space. It’s from here at Christmas, 1943, that an Irish priest, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, organises the escape of numerous people sought by the Nazis with the help of a group who make up his “choir”, including a titled British ambassador, his Cockney minder, a dynamic Italian man of the streets, a contessa, an Irish woman, a gay female journalist, and a professional British army officer, offhand and debonair.

Joseph O’Connor has fictionalised the real story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty. Credit: Urszula Soltys

They’re a brilliant, intensely likeable crew, and they’re brave beyond belief. Each of them presents some section of the narrative via an interview or written statement from the early ’60s, and it’s remarkable how O’Connor sustains a consistent narrative while also doing justice to the individual quality of these recollections.

At the centre of the whole thing is the monsignor, a man of mercy and as tough as nails, the kind of Irishman who will fight until he drops but is also a religious man who believes as an article of faith in the forgiveness of a loving God.

This is a kind of historical thriller that is rich in its coloration and with a tendency towards melodrama that is not in control but is hard not to be swept up by. There is a not quite sinister meeting with Pope Pius XII done with a deliberate magnificence and there is a ghastly scoundrel who is head of the SS and has a cruelty that is not separate from his hysteria.

“In my father’s house there are many mansions,” Jesus said. Or rooms as O’Connor has it for purposes of clarity. He wants to conjure every last detail: the cat with yellow haughty eyes someone calls Cleopatra, the smell of burned dust, the rats bloated like monsters of the animal kingdom, the stew made of lungs, the extraordinary courage and the bestial gratuitous sadism of humankind.

My Father’s House is an exhilarating story of dark and crooked staircases that rot and creak and lead to terrible falls and nightmare visions. It is all overdone and at the same time done with a tremendous and irresistible vigour. O’Connor, brother of Sinead, is a maestro of every kind of excess: he lays everything on too thick, but it’s impossible to distinguish the artistry from the rollicking hackwork because the mixture is so absolutely blended.

He belongs with lords of language such as Stevenson, Chesterton and Chandler, who are also tellers of tales. He takes a bath in an eloquence that he is a master of but that is also in constant danger of overmastering him.

I read My Father’s House without looking at any background information and was amazed to discover that the whole story (or at least its outline) was true. There was a brave Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, he did help a great many people escape from the Nazis, he did have these brave collaborators and base enemies, but O’Connor emphasises that the intonation and the inflection are his own. Still, the fact that the outline of this story should be “true” makes the head reel.

My Father’s House does not come across as a docudrama but nor do historical novels generally and that’s how we have to view this mesmerising story of valour and deep human kindness.

You don’t really expect a story – from Ireland of all places – to be about a saintly priest who was also in the most dynamic and dashing sense a man of action. That much seems to be true however much O’Connor has surrendered to the power and glory of language. To be fair, it’s something over which he has dominion even though he goes over the top.

My Father’s House is sure to keep people reading longer into the night than they should.

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor is published by Harvill Secker, $32.99.

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My Father's House

The Rome Escape Line Trilogy #1

by Joseph O’Connor

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MODEL HOME , by Rivers Solomon

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My Father's House: As seen on BBC Between the Covers (Rome Escape Line Book 1) Kindle Edition

**AS SEEN ON BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS**AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4**THE NUMBER ONE IRISH BESTSELLER** When the Nazis take Rome, thousands go into hiding. One priest will risk everything to save them. September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. He gathers a team to set up an Escape Line. But Hauptmann's net begins closing in and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. By Christmas, it's too late to turn back. Based on a true story, My Father's House is a powerful thriller from a master of historical fiction. It is an unforgettable novel of love, sacrifice and what it means to be human in the most extreme circumstances. 'A spectacular, thrilling novel. ..suspense crackles...celebrates triumphant against-the-odds camaraderie' Sunday Times 'A masterwork... so urgent, so incredibly alive ... A searing and beautiful example of storytelling's infinite importance' Donal Ryan 'Impressive and pleasurable ...the diverse ventriloquism of O'Connor's novel evokes a city in peril with wonderful vitality' Financial Times LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2024 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024 *The second book in the Rome Escape Line Trilogy, THE GHOSTS OF ROME , is available to pre-order now.*

• Book 1 of 2 The Rome Escape Line Trilogy
• Print length 276 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Vintage Digital
• Publication date January 26, 2023
• File size 6521 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

“A potent blend of excitement, suspense and intrigue... A gripping World War II-set drama featuring the unlikeliest of heroes, one whom the reader roots for every step of the way... hugely satisfying.”— Malcom Forbes, Washington Post

“ My Father’s House is primarily—and triumphantly—an intimate drama that illuminates both the fragility and the wonder of unlikely human connections forged in adversity and, in some cases, enduring for a lifetime.”— Anna Mundow, Wall Street Journal

“Sometimes a novel’s setting looms so large it becomes a crucial element of the plot. That’s certainly true of the dangerous streets of World War II Rome, which Joseph O’Connor explores in his historical thriller My Father’s House .”— Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review

★ “O’Connor is a masterful storyteller, weaving a violent, terrifying, suspenseful, yet ultimately uplifting story of one man’s courage and determination to fight back against Nazi brutality, whatever the risk. Superb!”— Booklist (Starred Review)

★ “Riveting... A storytelling tour de force. This is top-drawer WWII fiction.”— Publishers Weekly ( Starred Review)

★ “If the story were told in typical thriller style, emphasizing action over language, it would still be good, but O’Connor’s phrasings are a special joy... A deeply emotional read.”— Kirkus Reviews ( Starred Review)

“ My Father’s House is a skillful portrayal of the evils of fascism and the fortitude demanded of those who would oppose it . . . O’Connor is an excellent writer, and the story is compelling”— The Catholic Spirit

“With mastery, Joseph O’Connor turns this true episode of the Second World War into fiction, mixing real and invented characters...An intelligent thriller, which thrills and lifts the veil on a fascinating intertwining of gray areas, hideouts, secret passages, false identities, legends and disguises used by these unusual heroes.”— Actual News Magazine

“A riveting tale about the power of community in the face of unfathomable evil... A seamless blend of fact and fiction by a master of the genre; a brisk, polyphonic narrative that brings the heroism of ordinary people thrillingly to life.”— Irish Times

“The diverse ventriloquism of O’Connor’s novel evokes a city in peril with wonderful vitality.”— Financial Times (UK)

“The novel’s evocative scene-setting, its propulsive narration and its powerful depiction of bravery and unity in extremis, all make for an engrossing read.”— The Telegraph (UK)

“A spectacular, thrilling novel… the novel offers much more than tensely plotted thrills. O’Flaherty’s deep and impressively detailed love of Rome is emphasised and handsomely conveyed by O’Connor… My Father’s House celebrates triumphant against-the-odds camaraderie. It would require a present-day Puccini to do operatic justice to its tremendous tale.”— The Sunday Times (UK)

“This remains a tale worth re-telling, adorned as it is by the brilliance of O’Connor’s impressionistic writing.”— The Times (UK), A Best New Thriller for January 2023

“There have been many books written and films made about Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, the Kerry-born Vatican priest who rescued thousands of Jews and Allied Prisoners of War during the Second World War. But his latest incarnation, as the hero of this fast-moving novel by Joseph O’Connor, is surely the most memorable… A novel that triumphantly recreates the extraordinary human being that was Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty and his colourful co-conspirators.”— Irish Examiner

“Superb.”— Irish Independent

“The master story teller delivers crackling dialogue, tense and thrilling set pieces, and beautiful prose. A bank holiday movie in book form.”— Pat Carty,  Hot Press

About the Author

Joseph O’Connor ’s Shadowplay was named Novel of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards and was a finalist for the prestigious Costa Book Award. His novel Star of the Sea was published in thirty-eight languages and won France’s Prix Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi, the Irish Post Award for Fiction, the Nielsen Bookscan Golden Book Award, an American Library Association Award, the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Hall of Fame Award, and the Prix Litteraire Zepter for European Novel of the Year. He is the author of nine novels and is the Inaugural Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B4FNRTXH
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage Digital (January 26, 2023)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 26, 2023
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 6521 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 276 pages
• #395 in Biographical Fiction (Kindle Store)
• #855 in Historical Thrillers (Kindle Store)
• #861 in Historical World War II Fiction

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Customers find the characters compelling, real, and credible. They describe the pacing as captivating, unforgettable, profound, and inspiring. Readers also appreciate the perfect level of suspense throughout. Additionally, they praise the writing quality as vivid, delectable, and engaging.

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Customers find the characters compelling, real, and credible. They also say the book is tense and a page-turner.

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Customers find the pacing compelling, gripping, and unforgettable. They also say the book is profound and inspiring.

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Customers find the book suspenseful. They also appreciate the author's command of language, pacing, and plot.

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Customers find the writing quality of the book to be excellent. They say the characters are vividly portrayed and O'Connor is an insightful and engaging writer.

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"...O’Connor is an insightful and engaging writer . If you like tortured anti-heroes, this book’s not for you...." Read more

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