My Father's House: AS SEEN ON BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS (Rome Escape Line Book 1)

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Thank you to Dreamscape Media LLC for allowing me to listen to the audiobook of My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor through Netgalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The commentaries became less and less convincing in terms of voice and the characters became stereotypes. The Author’s Note provides a list of references for those who want to read more about the true events that inspired this novel. 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.

Joseph O’Connor has created an unforgettable novel of love, faith and sacrifice, and what it means to be truly human in the most extreme circumstances. 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. Deftly shifting through time and perspective in contemporary India, Age of Vice is an epic, action-packed story propelled by the seductive wealth, startling corruption, and bloodthirsty violence of the Wadia family-loved by some, loathed by others, feared by all. Everyday the people working with Hugh were risking their lives, just as he risked his own life everyday.For months he has barely seen a soul, catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the vivid and descriptive writing, I just found the sentence structure too choppy with too few context clues and little continuity. It’s the story of tremendous bravery and sacrifice, and is based on the true story of Hugh O’Flaherty. Regardless, it was quite interesting and compelling due to the author's writing and treatment of the subject matter (WWII, Holocaust), which includes an IRL Irish Monsignor stationed in Rome who helped Jews and other escapees flee the Nazis.

I’d never heard of ‘the Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican’ before and was curious as to how he hid and protected so many from the Nazis. Amazing Grace Adams tells the story of a life, a marriage, a family, set against a single north-London day.The glimpses of his human side are shocking, alongside his brutal behaviour and casual violence, while you feel his obsession with O’Flaherty and the mind games he uses against him, highlight O’Flaherty’s essential strength. He is the author of the novels Cowboys and Indians (short-listed for the Whitbread Prize), Desperadoes, The Salesman, Inishowen, Star of the Sea and Redemption Falls, as well as a number of bestselling works of non-fiction. My father’s house’ is a literary thriller, based loosely on a true story, and knowing this makes me want to investigate further.

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.

Running the escape line is the incredibly tough and organised Hugh, code name Golf, and his 'Choir', he understands the need for silence, given the Nazis extensive use of microphones and their network of informants. During the Nazi occupation of Rome it housed not only the Pope and the Vatican's clergy, but also various diplomats and foreigners who had fled there for safety. It also sheltered escaped POWs, Jews, and other fugitives, who were hidden and then smuggled to safety.