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

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The villain of the piece is Paul Hauptmann, Hitler's representative in Rome, and a man with a penchant for torture. He's already on Hauptmann's deadly hitlist after he visits a POW camp and, horrified by the conditions of the prisoners, insists on giving them treats and water.

My Father’s House is set in Rome, more precisely in the Vatican, during the Nazi occupation and is described by the publishers as a ‘WWII-era “great escape” novel’. In 2009 he was the Harman Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Baruch College, the City University of New York.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. The background of this tribute to a priest, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, living in Vatican City at the start of the war when thousands of Nazi troops and their evil commander, Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann, (Kappler) ruled with an iron hand. 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. He was on to the Monsignor and had compiled a dossier on him but so far had not been able to charge him with anything.

He put his life at risk using his creative tactics against the Nazis, to help Jews and escaped allied prisoners to flee. Certainly would make a great movie, and it becomes natural to draw comparisons with Oscar Schindler.All the characters are well fleshed out and the author skillfully brings all the threads of the story together weaving a cohesive, intense and suspenseful narrative that is hard to put down. However, these sections sometimes feel like a cheat in that they are used to convey information that these individuals wouldn't have been privy to. What a read – what a story, this piece of historical fiction is based on real events using fictional characters created by amalgamating real players of this period of WWII Rome. From the publisher: Book 1 in the Rome Escape Line Trilogy, My Father’s House is a powerful, heartbreaking literary thriller based on the true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who risked his life to smuggle thousands of Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy under the nose of his Nazi nemesis, Hauptmann.

Irish priest, Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, aka Ugo and Hughdini, is tasked with visiting the horrors of the Italian POW camps, an appointment the Nazis thought would not raise the terrifying conditions as the Irish were known to despise the English. Finally – and triumphantly – My Father’s House is an intimate drama that illuminates both the fragility and the wonder of unlikely human connections forged in adversity and, in some cases, enduring for a lifetime. This formidable talent for writing across genres is reflected in his masterly 10th novel, which should reap similar plaudits.This first book in the Rome Escape Line trilogy is inspired by the true story of Monsignor O’Flaherty, an Irish priest in the Vatican who helped smuggle Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy. The story of the Roman Escape Line was told in dual timelines, the days leading up to the Rendimento on December 23, 1943 and 20 years later in 1963, as revisited by members of the Choir. So while I wouldn't read any planned sequels, I will certainly try more by O'Connor (I own a copy of Star of the Sea). It alternated between the days in 1943 that led up to the Rendimento and then in 1963 when several members of The Choir were interviewed.

I loved the way the author includes passages made up of short, sharp bursts of descriptive prose that are almost like poetry.The characterisation is superb, you get a real feel for the distinctiveness of each member of the Choir, and the exceptional character and personality of Hugh himself, a man who knows Rome like the back of his hand, for whom the city is his true home.