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

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O Flaherty’s anti-Nazi stance earns him the ire of his superiors at The Vatican, which pursued a policy of neutrality during World War II, but does not deter his efforts in doing as much he could for those in need of his help. This book is inspired by the true story of Monsignor O'Falherty,an Irish priest working in the Vatican who helped smuggle Jews and POW'S out of Italy during WW2. O’Connor is on stellar form with this ensemble thriller… while the story’s inbuilt tension urges you on, it’s the sheer vigour of O’Connor’s beautifully turned phrases that really makes the book sing… an expert storyteller. 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.

Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she cannot remember. The danger and peril was ever so real and the author does an excellent job of showing the reader that with scenes that set one's heart beating faster. O’Connor’s own distinctive phrases are imbued with a gleeful irreverence: a cardinal is described as “a long drink of cross-eyed, buck-toothed misery if ever there was, he’d bore the snots off a wet horse”, wWhile a confident woman could “sell a double bed to the Reverend Mother”. Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea. Hauptmann was the Gestapo Officer who had appointed Hugh as the Vatican Envoy thinking that an Irishman would be unlikely to sympathize with English prisoners.On a related note if you are interested in the true version of events Mr O'Connor provides further reading at the end of the book and you can visit the statue of Hugh O'Flaherty in Killarney National Park in Kerry (where they do now have crushed ice, tomato ketchup and easy access to garlic - read the book and you'll understand the reference). 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. Their cover is a choir and the choristers are Delia Kieran, wife to the senior Irish diplomat at the Vatican, Marianna de Vries, a Dutch, freelance journalist, Sir D’Arcy Osborne, the British ambassador, Enzo Angelucci, former new stand owner, Sam Derry, an escaped British prisoner of war, John May is the resourceful man servant to the ambassador, Contessa Giovanna Landini, a widow, and the “conductor” is Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty. While I feel two stars is appropriate from me, don't be turned away if you can follow the narration.

The city is occupied by German forces and the Gestapo commander, Paul Hauptmann, rules with an iron fist.I don't want to discourage other readers from reading this book as this is more about how I reacted to the style of writing, and I can see from other people's reviews that this is certainly a book well worth adding to reader's TBR list for 2023. I have come to see neutrality is the most extremist stance of all; without it, no tyranny can flourish. Through Monsignor O'Flaherty and the others, I came to know what life was like in that tiny enclave of one hundred nine acres and what courage under fire truly looks like.