His books include Cowboys and Indians, Inishowen, Star of the Sea (American Library Association Award, Irish Post Award for Fiction, France's Prix Millepages, Italy's Premio Acerbi, Prix Madeleine Zepter for European novel of the year), Redemption Falls, Ghost Light (Dublin One City One Book Novel 2011) and Shadowplay (Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year, Costa Novel of the Year shortlist). That torture and murder occurred is not in doubt; that brave sould risked their lives and often lost them is another given. Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty was committed to helping as many people escape the wrath of the Nazis as he could and get out of Italy. The story can get overly descriptive and wordy at times, these characters can be a chatty bunch as they reminisce, but their stories do put us right there with Hugh and the people he worked with so closely.

Their cover is a choir and the choristers are Delia Kieran, wife to the senior Irish diplomat at the Vatican, Marianna de Vries, a Dutch, freelance journalist, Sir D’Arcy Osborne, the British ambassador, Enzo Angelucci, former new stand owner, Sam Derry, an escaped British prisoner of war, John May is the resourceful man servant to the ambassador, Contessa Giovanna Landini, a widow, and the “conductor” is Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty.Ghostlight' and 'Star of the sea' were also recent favourites, so I was keen to read 'My father's house' when it was released. From ‘Cowboys and Indians’ and ‘Desperadoes’ back in my early university days, to ‘Star of the sea’ which he still gets letters about every week, to ‘Ghost light’ ‘Redemption falls’ - so many cracking reads over the years. Their choir practice sessions are a front for their efforts toward devising plans to aid escaped PoWs– a mammoth task that encompasses sheltering the escapees in safe houses, acquiring travel documents in false names and arranging transport to Switzerland- a task made more difficult on account of ruthless Gestapo officer Obersturmbannfurher Paul Hauptmann, who was aware of the existence of an Escape Line and was keeping a close watch on Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty in hopes of catching him and /or his friends at the right moment.

I don't want to discourage other readers from reading this book as this is more about how I reacted to the style of writing, and I can see from other people's reviews that this is certainly a book well worth adding to reader's TBR list for 2023.From the publisher: Book 1 in the Rome Escape Line Trilogy, My Father’s House is a powerful, heartbreaking literary thriller based on the true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who risked his life to smuggle thousands of Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy under the nose of his Nazi nemesis, Hauptmann. The book is based on the true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty who, along with others, risked his life to smuggle thousands of Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy. J oseph O’Connor’s Shadowplay won novel of the year at the 2019 Irish book awards and was shortlisted for the Costa Novel award.

A masterwork… so urgent, so incredibly alive… A searing and beautiful example of storytelling’s infinite importance. This highly imaginative and informative novel is full of suspense and tension whilst celebrating the qualities of humanity, compassion, love, faith, tenacity and the resilience of those willing to risk their lives to save those at risk in the city of Rome during WW2. For example, the acerbic wit and Irish lilt of displomat’s wife, Delia Kiernan – ‘Some little jack-in-office of a penpusher thinks he’ll lord it over yours truly? A deadly high-stakes battle of wits ensues in this astonishing, unforgettable story of love, faith and sacrifice, exploring what it means to be truly human in the most extreme circumstances. There are a number of heroic locals committed to making the Nazi’s malignant presence as difficult as possible.The Choir members all came from different social, ethnic and political backgrounds, but they were all united in their desire to save human beings from the Nazis. Based on a true story, My Father's House is a powerful thriller from a master of historical fiction. His response was in line with his value system, seeing the persecuted as humans deserving of help, regardless of their background. It's incredible how they helped so many escaped prisoners and Jews, with money, medicine, papers, clothes - whatever they needed, also hiding them using every bit of available space.