In September 1943 German forces moved in to occupy Rome. The only safe place to hide would be in Vatican City. Hiding people in various areas and exercising extreme caution, the Choir used aliases and forged IDs. They referred to the people they had hidden as "books" and hiding places as "shelves." Like a thriller, the subterfuge they had to use and the threat of danger is ever present, only the heroes here are doing so out of love and faith. 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 30 favourite books .

The author contrived a marvelous cat-and-mouse conflict between Paul Hauptmann, head of the Gestapo in Rome, and Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, leader of 'The Choir', the group running the smuggling operation. Hauptmann is under a lot of pressure from Himmler to stop the escapes. He heavily suspects O'Flaherty of being the mastermind, but his efforts to trap him keep falling flat. I think Monsignor Hugh saw himself as the strong, silent type. It’s great to write about a character like that. I have come to see neutrality is the most extremist stance of all; without it, no tyranny can flourish.” Never has the incredible story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty been fictionalised in such a vividly immersive experience. A powerful work of art.” The Escape Line masquerades as a choir, because they are convinced that the Nazis have bugged every room in the Vatican.

Retailers:

The way you evoke Rome is really engaging. What makes Rome such a great subject as a historical novelist to write about?

Here he’s ambling up the steps to the residence and he grey with the dust from boots to helmet, huge leather gloves on him like a flying ace, and he blessing himself at the Lourdes water font on the hall stand. The character of O’Flaherty seems purpose built for novelisation. An admirably learned man of faith who risked his life to do the right thing. A masterwork... so urgent, so incredibly alive... A searing and beautiful example of storytelling's infinite importance' Donal Ryan Rome’s Galleria Borghese and, in the same city, the excavations beneath St Peter’s. Also, Sun Studio, Memphis. 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.I t sounds like you are aware of some of the controversies that still exist around Pius XII. So you’re wading into an area that is not settled history for a lot of people. Breathtakingly good writing. O’Connor puts you right there, centre stage in the story, and never lets you go.” Gestapo boss Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptman, who appears to be the fictional stand in for the real life Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler, had Hugh and those who associated with him, in his sights, meaning that Hugh and the rescue line were under constant surveillance while they accomplished so much right under the noses of the enemy. So many lives were lost, so many lives were saved. It's a remarkable story, told through mostly fictional retellings in later years. 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. I look forward to the other two books in this trilogy. Or take Delia Kiernan, a famed singer in Ireland before becoming wife of the senior Irish diplomat to the Vatican, recalling her first meeting with O’Flaherty: “His means of transport that night was his motorcycle. Joseph O’Connor’s earlier work was instrumental in demonstrating that modern historical fiction can mean novels of ideas and the state of the nation rather than works of populist nostalgia. Writing about second world war espionage and resistance is brave in this context – there are so many gold-lettered tales of homosocial derring-do sold to men in airports – but anyone buying My Father’s House with this expectation will find themselves expected to think as well as fantasise.