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

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All the while the members of the choir are working on the plans for forthcoming missions they are mindful of the risks they are running. 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? I paired my reading with the superb full-cast narration - featuring Barry Barnes, Stephen Hogan , Barnaby Edwards , Laurence Bouvard , Aoife Duffin , Gertrude Toma , David John , Roberto Davide and Thomas Hill -that made for an immersive experience. Describing his first encounter with his future employer and fellow member of the choir, Sir D’Arcy Osborne, in a Soho nightclub frequented by gay men: ‘So Sir D’Arcy’s in one midnight with a couple of his old school muckers and they’re larking about with the drag boys.

I was drawn to the novel as I know so little about Italian resistance and the plight of POWs held by the Germans in Italy. From the acclaimed author of Star of the Sea comes a riveting, emotionally acute novel of resistance and rescue during the Second World War as an Irish priest prepares a daring mission in Vatican City from under the noses of the Nazis. The novel is told as a countdown to the Rendimento (whose literal meaning is performance) a daring mission which is to take place on Christmas Eve 1943.But Hauptmann’s net begins closing in and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. The description of My Father’s House as a ‘literary’ thriller is spot on because, alongside the gripping story, the narrative has some brilliant stylistic flourishes. There are a number of heroic locals committed to making the Nazi’s malignant presence as difficult as possible. His sources include O’Flaherty’s unpublished papers, letters, diaries, telegrams and journalism, as well as a joke borrowed from the late Dave Allen.

The story is set in Nazi-occupied Rome during December 1943 and unfolds as a countdown towards 'a mission'.My only previous experience of Joseph O’Connor’s work is his novel Shadowplay, a fictionalized account of the life of Bram Stoker which was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Fiction 2020. Beautifully crafted, his razor-sharp dialogue is to be savoured, and he employs dark humour to great effect.

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. The commentaries became less and less convincing in terms of voice and the characters became stereotypes.Although Hugh O’Flaherty is the key character I loved the way the author brought to life the other members of the group. 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. But Hauptmann's net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. The story in ‘My father’s house’ is always building to Christmas Eve, 1943, when a mission (code name Rendimento) takes place. A masterwork… so urgent, so incredibly alive… A searing and beautiful example of storytelling’s infinite importance.

He heavily suspects O'Flaherty of being the mastermind, but his efforts to trap him keep falling flat. 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.One of the standout parts of the book for me was a section entitled ‘The Hunstman’ in which the author gives us a chilling insight into Hauptmann’s domestic life in his heavily fortified home in a former museum that is almost like a prison, and to the motivation for his vile actions. There's no doubt in my mind that the Monsignor’s training prepared him to intervene in difficult situations rather than being content to remain a bystander.