My Father's House: AS SEEN ON BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS (The Rome Escape Line, 1)

Product Information

Read Ireland – Featured Authors". Readireland.ie. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011 . Retrieved 21 May 2011.

A tale worth re-telling, adorned as it is by the brilliants of O’Connor’s impressionistic writing.” I had a religious phase when I was in my middle teens and then I was an atheist for decades. Now, I’m a doubting believer or a believing doubter. I have a religious impulse, but I am not part of any church. It must be great to be completely clear in your mind one way or the other. I envied people who were completely happily atheist too. I feel okay about having doubt. I think it's human to doubt.” Joseph Connor writes a literary WW2 historical novel, inspired by real events and people, set in Nazi German occupied Rome in the run up to Christmas 1943, and the neutral state of the Vatican City. Irish priest, Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, aka Ugo and Hughdini, is tasked with visiting the horrors of the Italian POW camps, an appointment the Nazis thought would not raise the terrifying conditions as the Irish were known to despise the English. How wrong they were, for the courageous Hugh tries to improve the conditions and raise the morale of the prisoners, many of whom were mere boys, whilst remorselessly castigating those running the nightmare camps. However, he is soon prevented from carrying out his duties by a Vatican fearful of the Nazis threat of occupying their city, although for Hugh, neutrality is an extremist stance, without which no tyranny can flourish.

Retailers:

You don’t understand the fact that hope, if it is ever encountered, is in the small things of the everyday, not an announcement from on high. In the aroma of cooking, a phrase from Vivaldi. A handclasp. A conversation.” Like Joyce, O'Connor combines his panoramic range with a close eye to the grain and texture of the phrase... An astonishingly accomplished writer.' — Terry Eagleton, The Guardian From Atlantis by Eavan Boland. “And so, in the best traditions of/where we come from, they gave their sorrow a name/and drowned it.” 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.” Hugh is a Catholic priest who's taken vows of obedience. The Pope has personally told him not to do this but he decides ‘I'm going to do it’ and that's a story. I love and respect the Pope but I have to do this. I don't have any choice. I can't live with myself. He's a really intriguing character because he has to do what he thinks is right.”

My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor was a book that I was so eager to get my hands on and I was so excited when I got a copy from Net Galley to read in return for an honest review. I am such a fan of Joseph O'Connor and would rate Star of the Sea in my top 20 favourite books . I’m happy I investigated this ‘great escape’ novel set in the Vatican during WW2 and featuring an Irishman and an escape route I’d never heard of before. 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. Shadowplay: Eason Novel of the Year 2019 – Winner". irishbookawards. 21 November 2019. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020 . Retrieved 21 November 2019.

Select a format:

O'Connor brings an impressive range of thrillerish techniques to his storytelling... [ My Father's House is] vivid and atmospheric Tablet My Father’s House was the first book that I had read by author, Joseph O’Connor. I enjoyed that it was told in a duel time line. It alternated between the days in 1943 that led up to the Rendimento and then in 1963 when several members of The Choir were interviewed. The audiobook that I listened to was well done. There were several narrators so voices were easily distinguished. This was a part of World War II that I had never heard about. Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty was a courageous and brave man. With his help, guidance and leadership thousands of Jews, Allied prisoners and diplomats were able to be smuggled out of Italy. He is someone who should be admired for his courage. I look forward to reading the second book in this trilogy. I highly recommend this book.

I was drawn to the novel as I know so little about Italian resistance and the plight of POWs held by the Germans in Italy. Most novels I have read have centred on Paris and escape routes in France. 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.” This novel tells a fictitious version of the real life of Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty who, along with a cast of several others plus the inhabitants of Rome played a central role in getting escapees and the like put from under the noses of the Nazis during the occupation. He, like many others, risked his life to help others during a murderous episode in Rome's past. At the very end of the book, there’s a scene where the British ambassador, who is also based on a real person, Sir D’Arcy Osborne, is giving a speech. And he says, “When I have been requested down the years to define the Rome Escape Line, I’ve always said the same thing. And I always shall. It was my dear friend Hugh O’Flaherty and a number of us who loved him.” And I think that’s true.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. Characters I write based on real figures are always my own versions, even when different people’s takes on them have appeared in other fictions or in biographies. The premise, plot, story, cast, structure, choral mode, timeline, tone, approach, essence and atmosphere of My Father’s House are unique to it. O'Connor, Brendan (17 June 2007). "Sinead's love of her 'devil' mum". Irish Independent . Retrieved 25 December 2020.