This experience shows on the page, the raconteur’s flair for mining history that has seen his work translated into over 40 languages. The Escape Line, headed by Msgr Hugh O’Flaherty, was responsible for saving in the region of 6,500 Allied soldiers and Jews during the second World War. 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. The charitable acts at the centre of My Father’s House are the opposite of this: quiet, heroic and worthy of this fine retelling.

My Father’s House book review: Irish priest who defied Nazis My Father’s House book review: Irish priest who defied Nazis

It becomes a haven for a group of Resistance fighters who carry out various missions to help the Escape Line for hundreds of escaped POWs who have been hidden and need money, clothes and food to reach safer places. There are near misses, scenes of intense physical suffering and rising jeopardy, particularly as we also see vignettes of Hauptmann’s evening. Joseph O’Connor’s new novel, based on the extraordinary true story of an Irish priest in the Vatican who helped to save thousands of prisoners during the Nazi occupation of Rome, is a riveting tale about the power of community in the face of unfathomable evil.Photograph: Anonymous/AP Pope Pius XII tours Rome following an air raid during the second world war. The story in ‘My father’s house’ is always building to Christmas Eve, 1943, when a mission (code name Rendimento) takes place. The book concludes with a deep study of great Christian themes, concerning love and repentance and sacraments. Ghostlight' and 'Star of the sea' were also recent favourites, so I was keen to read 'My father's house' when it was released. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties.

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor: A masterful, seamless My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor: A masterful, seamless

The story is a harrowing account of the unfathomable lengths that decent men and women go to help their fellow humans when needs must. 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. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. 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.How effective did you find the different voices that O’Connor uses to tell his story, and the different types of writing, e.

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor — rebel with a cause My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor — rebel with a cause

Violence is indirectly conveyed in the destruction of a fine piano, the appearance of a full set of teeth. 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. It's thought that through O'Flaherty, with the help of his choir and surrounding network, over 6,000 people were saved. Readers who enjoy the story will find an excellent bibliography at the end of the novel to find out more about O’Flaherty.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. I was bored throughout this novel and I’m honestly surprised that this is intended as a trilogy as I can’t imagine where the story would go from here. The gargantuan efforts undertaken to achieve this were documented in the 1983 film The Scarlet and the Black, starring Gregory Peck as O’Flaherty, and in Maj Sam Derry’s memoir The Rome Escape Line (1960), a letter from which is used by O’Connor as the epigraph of his novel. Many years ago I had read “Star of the Sea,” a true work of literary fiction, and was surprised that this book was written by the same author as the writing style is so different.

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

O’Connor has assembled a wonderful cast, which includes Contessa Giovanna Landini, mourning her husband; Delia Kiernan, wife of the senior Irish diplomat to the Vatican, a singer with the voice of an angel; Marianna de Vries, a freelance journalist; Enzo Angelucci, an Italian newsagent, and Major Sam Derry, an escaped British POW.Canon Richard Lamey is the Rector of St Paul’s, Wokingham, and Area Dean of Sonning, in the diocese of Oxford. 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.