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

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I have often wondered as a girl raised solidly in the principles of the Catholic Church why something wasn't done to save the Jews by the church.

Operation 'Rendimento' is planned but suffers a serious setback when it becomes clear the person leading it, Major Sam Reed, is in no position to carry out the dangerous mission. Would the abstractions they planned be enough to keep SS Officer Hauptmann distracted long enough to accomplish The Rendimento? It was a dangerous game they played with Hauptmann, one where their own lives would have been extinguished if found they housed and kept Jews safe. It’s September 1943, and German forces occupy Rome, with Gestapo boss, Paul Hauptmann ruling with a terrifying iron fist. 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.And it was as he was talking about some of his other books that I realised just how long I’ve been reading him. A deadly high-stakes battle of wits ensues in this astonishing, unforgettable story of love, faith and sacrifice, exploring what it means to be truly human in the most extreme circumstances. 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. I really enjoyed reading this novel, and will definitely read the next two in the Escape Line trilogy; however, I saw it more as a recounting of heroism in a terrible time, rather than a deeply moving work.

You don’t understand the fact that hope, if it is ever encountered, is in the small things of the everyday, not an announcement from on high. 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. Expertly plotted… Brilliantly paced… O’Connor brings vividly to life a man who stands up to be counted. Intricate, underground plans were crafted to be implemented on Christmas Eve, a time thought to be less guarded by the Gestapo. These transcripts both deepen the sense of character and also bring about a tension as you try to piece together what will happen on the plan for Christmas Eve, 1943, when a major plan is about to unfold.

There were times when I was almost reading with my eyes closed because I couldn’t handle the suspense. 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. Working in real time on Christmas Eve 1943 leading up to a crucial operation across Rome, the story is enhance by later interviews with some of the participants remembering their wartime exploits. A man facing the not inconsiderable pressures of a Himmler expecting him to destroy the Escape Line through which so many are spirited out of the city and the country. His home is Vatican City, the world's smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway.