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

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My FATHER’S HOUSE, the first title in the Rome Escape Line trilogy, is inspired by the true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, an Irish priest assigned to the Vatican who, together with a group of unlikely accomplices, risked his life to smuggle Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy right under the nose of his Nazi nemesis, Gestapo officer Paul Hauptmann.The further titles will take two other characters in the Escape Line group as their focus, as they face their own challenges in the fight to save others in dangerous times. Hugh is a Catholic priest who's taken vows of obedience. The Pope has personally told him not to do this but he decides ‘I'm going to do it’ and that's a story. I love and respect the Pope but I have to do this. I don't have any choice. I can't live with myself. He's a really intriguing character because he has to do what he thinks is right.” Ghost Light by Joseph O'Connor". Josephoconnorauthor.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020 . Retrieved 21 May 2011. Never has the incredible story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty been fictionalised in such a vividly immersive experience. A powerful work of art.”

My Father’s House is inspired by the extraordinary true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who, together with his accomplices, risked his life to smuggle Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy right under the nose of his Nazi nemesis.Suspenseful and beautifully written, My Father’s House tells an unforgettable story of love, faith, sacrifice, and courage. Thrilling... Based on true events, this tense, gripping narrative is rendered in beautifully evocative prose Mail on Sunday The Vatican City, at one fifth of a square mile the world’s smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome, acted as a safe haven for diplomats, refugees, and escaped Allied prisoners. Such a small area had it's limit of how many people could be hidden so with the help of brave individuals from all walks of life, clothes, food, medicine, papers, and money were gathered continually to allow thousands to flee to refuge in the countryside surrounding Rome and then on to safer havens. Everyday the people working with Hugh were risking their lives, just as he risked his own life everyday. 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.” But as ever with O’Connor’s work, his fictionalised account of this man and his daring exploits is almost as ambitious as O’Flaherty’s self-appointed mission. He adopts a “high literary” style to tell the priest’s story from multiple viewpoints using imagined BBC interview transcripts, for instance, made about 17 years after the war, interspersing these with a straightforward narrative that moves forward from 19 December 1943 to Christmas Eve, 1943.O'Connor one of five new Aosdána members". The Irish Times. Irish Times Trust. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012 . Retrieved 20 February 2020. Enormous thanks to Joseph O'Connor, Dreamscape Media (wonderful narrators Barry Barnes; Stephen Hogan; Barnaby Edwards; Laurence Bouvard; Aoife Duffin; Gertrude Toma; David John; Roberto Davide; Thomas Hill) and Netgalley for a copy of this astonishing story due out January 31, 2023.

Yes. You've got rhythm and melody, almost before you are born. That speaks to me of spirituality or the mystery or the ‘Godness’ of life.” Reasons to be cheerful: Joe O'Connor sees good in the recession". Tribune.ie. 20 July 2008 . Retrieved 4 May 2010. [ permanent dead link] 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!A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly - at times, astonishingly - a story of transience, loss and true loyalty Guardian, on Shadowplay Joseph Connor writes a literary WW2 historical novel, inspired by real events and people, set in Nazi German occupied Rome in the run up to Christmas 1943, and the neutral state of the Vatican City. 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. How wrong they were, for the courageous Hugh tries to improve the conditions and raise the morale of the prisoners, many of whom were mere boys, whilst remorselessly castigating those running the nightmare camps. However, he is soon prevented from carrying out his duties by a Vatican fearful of the Nazis threat of occupying their city, although for Hugh, neutrality is an extremist stance, without which no tyranny can flourish. One of the novel’s memorable scenes finds the Pope himself berating O’Flaherty for going against Vatican policy. To be fair to the real Pope Pius XII – not a sentence I ever expected to type - he had, as Pius XI’s Secretary Of State, protested against Nazi actions and helped draft the Mit brennender Sorge encyclical which challenged Nazi ideology in no uncertain terms. For his 2012 book, The Pope’s Jews: The Vatican’s Secret Plan To Save Jews From The Nazis, British author Gordon Thomas spoke with O’Flaherty’s family who informed him that O’Flaherty claimed everything he did was done with the Pope’s co-operation. First of all, I’m excited that O’Connor brought to the forefront a little-known piece of wartime history. 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. Not only did he hide POWs, but he also aided downed pilots and rescued books. I was held captive with O’Connor’s premise; a choir conductor and choir preparing for a performance! I was also prompted to research the head of the SS and Gestapo in Rome, Herbert Kappler and understand a little more of the irony of his last days. I’m still shaking my head. Four thousand frightened prisoners crammed like abused beasts, half starved, into a couple of barbed-wired stony fields. One doctor, a drunken pervert. No letters. Two latrines. Compulsory hard labour. Frequent beatings.

Glenageary roots". Southcountydublin.forumforus.com. Archived from the original on 25 March 2010 . Retrieved 4 May 2010.If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. O'Connor's writing is always intensely atmospheric...O'Connor succeeds in integrating into the suspenseful plot numerous narrative voices that intersect class, gender, nationality and religion Literary Review

My Father’s House centers on Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a real life Irish priest who helped shuttle escaped prisoners of war captives to safety. An interesting aspect of this book, for me, involved the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Nazi aggressors. The Pope even makes an appearance in this story. I need to read some non-fiction of this aspect of the war – there is a lot to learn and try and understand. This book is based on the true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty who risked his life to save smuggle thousands of Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy. He must do this under the eyes of the Nazis. He did not do this alone, he had many brave men and women, known as the ‘Choir’, who helped save others while putting their own lives on the line. Shadowplay: Eason Novel of the Year 2019 – Winner". irishbookawards. 21 November 2019. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020 . Retrieved 21 November 2019.

My Father's House

I have come to see neutrality is the most extremist stance of all; without it, no tyranny can flourish.” A thriller wouldn’t be thrilling if there wasn’t a formidable opponent. In this case it’s the utterly ruthless Gestapo boss Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann. 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. Driven by a deluded patriotism, he dreams of delivering to Hitler a conquest that will strengthen his career and bring prosperity to his family. ‘An example to the whole Fatherland. The Hauptmanns.’ Breathtakingly good writing. O’Connor puts you right there, centre stage in the story, and never lets you go.”