A WASHINGTON POST AND IRISH TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
FINALIST FOR THE 2024 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE
“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.”—Malcolm 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)
“Joseph O’Connor’s writing draws me into the pages . . . enthralling.”—Riley Chance, The Post
“O’Connor swaps between cracking dialogue scenes with wonderfully vivid characters and proper edge-of-the-seat thriller moments. One of his best, and that’s saying something, obviously.”—Rick O'Shea, MSN
“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
★ 12/12/2022
The riveting latest from O’Connor (Shadowplay), the first in a trilogy, chronicles the meticulous planning and execution of the escape of hundreds of Allied prisoners and Jews hiding in Vatican City during WWII. It’s December 1943 and Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty and seven associates who refer to themselves as “the Choir” have exploited the Vatican’s sovereignty as a minuscule neutral state to hide refugees from the Nazi occupation of Rome in numerous abandoned sheds, bombed-out buildings, and tunnels. Though they undertake their work with extreme caution—using aliases and forged IDs, referring to their charges in formal communications as “Books” and the hiding places as “Shelves”—they have aroused the suspicion of brutal Gestapo Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann, whose efforts to apprehend the fugitives come to a head early Christmas morning. Through wonderfully developed and varied characters, O’Connor conveys both the painful privations of life during wartime and the nobility of the Choir’s goals, and the unfolding of O’Flaherty’s marathon of undercover subterfuges that lay the groundwork for their mission in the middle section is a storytelling tour de force. This is top-drawer WWII fiction. Agent: Isobel Dixon, Blake Friedmann. (Jan.)
★ 06/10/2024
Irish Book Award winner O'Connor's (Star of the Sea) first entry in the "Rome Escape Line Trilogy" is a thriller of the first order, narrated by a full cast of nine superb narrators. Set in 1943 Vatican City during the German invasion of Rome, the story is based on actual people and events. Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty and seven others form a "Choir"—supposedly a musical group, but really an escape line intended to help Jews and Allied POWs escape from the Gestapo. The group employs the most secretive tactics, including aliases, forged IDs, and coded communications, knowing that they could be discovered at any moment. Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann poses the greatest risk to the operation, as he knows of the escape line and is determined to root out the ones in charge. With vibrant characterizations and spot-on accents, the narrators convey the characters' rich backstories, luring listeners into this terrifying and dangerous world. VERDICT O'Connor's latest is a page-turner from start to finish. This riveting listen is a must-purchase and is highly recommended for fans of Mark T. Sullivan's Beneath a Scarlet Sky or the 1983 film The Scarlet and the Black, starring Gregory Peck as Father O'Flaherty.—Scott DiMarco
Joseph O'Connor's wonderful thriller is inspired by the true story of the Irish envoy to the Vatican in 1943, Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty. Narrated in a series of individual monologues by a cast of extraordinary voice actors, this first in a proposed trilogy is emotionally moving and thrilling. With sadistic Obersturmbannführer Hauptmann and the Nazis occupying Rome but forbidden to enter Vatican City, the Vatican offers sanctuary and possible escape to POWs, Jews, and others facing death. O'Flaherty and a small group of brave citizens called "the Choir" use codes and clever ruses to smuggle those endangered to safety. The narrators create believable men and women whose selfless actions elevate their ordinary lives. O'Connor's character sketches are stunning, allowing narrators to create full-bodied, completely believable characters. This is superb listening. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine
★ 2022-11-16
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.”
A deeply emotional read. And when the action is over, the coda could water an atheist’s eye.
