In my book, the Escape Line, this group that Monsignor Hugh put together, consists of eight people. It may have been more, it may have been less, but in my novel, it’s eight. And they masquerade as a choir, because they are convinced that the Nazis have bugged every room in the Vatican. From the best-selling author of Star of the Sea, a WWII-era “great escape” novel set in the Vatican Breathtaking … SHADOWPLAY is a book undaunted. … As much as this is a hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly – at times, agonisingly – a story of transience, loss and true loyalty.’ Sadie Jones, The Guardian

That it deserves scrutiny. Also, that it may have altered over the course of the Roman occupation. Also, that Pius XII was not the first pope to think mutually contradictory things. Or the last. Alas. But My Father’s House is not a novel about the Catholic Church. To say so would be like saying The Sound of Music is a movie about nuns. 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. Maybe it will be one day, after every civilisation has called it ‘God’ for thousands of years, because we haven't got another word yet. There is a world we can't see and anyone who thinks there isn't, I admire their certitude, but I can’t make that leap. If you had told me in school that one day they'd be able to tell a drop of your blood as different from my blood, ‘there’s this funny DNA thing that's unique to every human being’ people would have laughed. That's only just been discovered, there's a lot about our existence that we do not understand.” Thrilling... Based on true events, this tense, gripping narrative is rendered in beautifully evocative prose Mail on Sunday Monsignor O’Flaherty is based in the Vatican where he plots and plans his big mission - Rendimento - to be implemented on Christmas Eve 1943. The mission is to smuggle Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy to safety - all this under the ever watchful eyes of the Nazis, and one Nazi in particular, Obersturmbannfurher Paul Hauptmann. Hauptmann already has utter contempt for the Irish priest after he was appointed to serve as an official Vatican visitor to the Italian concentration camp for British prisoners of war. These prisoners were on starvation diets until O’Flaherty began to provide them with little treats, something which didn’t escape Hauptmann’s attention. The visits were stopped and O’Flaherty became Hauptmann’s arch enemy as the Nazi suspected him of being a sympathiser (or more) of the Escape Line. He had very good reason to!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 human in the most extreme circumstances Killarney Outlook Many writers and historians, including Hannah Arendt and Rolf Hochhuth in his play The Deputy, have questioned Pope Pius XII’s wartime record. What view did you come to? I went through the usual process, which is to try and get the music of it in my head,” O’Connor explained during a visit to the HP office. “I have the start, I have the characters, I usually have the end, and then I try and get what it's going to sound like. Not just the characters or the situations but the effect the sound of the words are going to have. I think Star Of The Sea has a sound and Shadowplay has a sound.”

I have always enjoyed Joseph O’Connor’s books, so I was excited to receive his latest for review. This novel revolves around Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, based in Rome during WWII and the organiser of an escape route for prisoners of war. The story has a good sense of place and emergency but is also interspersed with transcripts of interviews for the other members of O’Flaherty’s ‘Choir,’ which is the cover for his activities. These transcripts both deepen the sense of character and also bring about a tension as you try to piece together what will happen on the plan for Christmas Eve, 1943, when a major plan is about to unfold.Combines the pleasures of the ideal holiday read with those of a literary masterpiece.' Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times The current Pope cried during a public prayer as he spoke of the suffering in Ukraine, which is all well and good, but could the church be doing more and could they have done more during this period?

The Gestapo were meticulous in their surveillance of the priest and his visitors, so the tension was unbearable at times. This was beautifully written but as in any conflict, its ensuing pain, misery, and hardship, makes one wonder at the fortitude and perseverance required both to live, and to survive the cruelty and oppression, but more so to ignore the gnawing fear and take action against the cruelty and injustice, regardless of the threat to oneself. Highly recommended! It details raw courage and the selfish acts of all those who worked with Hugh to raise funds and find accommodation for the growing number of escapees. The book has you hooked with that sense of impending danger and arrest by the Gestapo. SO beautifully written, a masterclass in ‘voices’ and an EXTREMELY TENSE thriller. It is magnificent.” 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. TelegraphO'Connor, Brendan (17 June 2007). "Sinead's love of her 'devil' mum". Irish Independent . Retrieved 25 December 2020. A masterwork... so urgent, so incredibly alive... A searing and beautiful example of storytelling's infinite importance' Donal Ryan 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. His latest triumph is My Father’s House, a brilliant recounting of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty’s adventures in the Vatican during World War II where the Kerry-born cleric provided, with the help of his choir of associates, an escape line for prisoners and the persecuted from Nazi clutches. It’s the kind of hold-all-my-calls story that armchairs were invented for. Rome is perhaps the ideal setting for a historical novel, and the writer Joseph O’Connor explores the city’s mysteries in gripping detail in My Father’s House, the first in a trilogy that takes place in occupied Rome during World War II. The novel, which was published in the United States in January, centers on Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a real life Irish priest who helped form the Escape Line, an eclectic group of expatriates who shuttled escaped prisoners of war to safety, in defiance of the Nazis who occupied Rome. Mr. O’Connor is the author of, among other books, Star of the Sea and Shadowplay. A native of Ireland, he spoke with Tim Reidy from his home in Dublin in February about his novel and his Jesuit connections. This excerpt from their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.