Historical novel set in Britannia AD61 (East Anglia)
Novel set in WW2 VATICAN CITY / ROME
23rd July 2024
My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor, novel set in WW2 Vatican City / Rome.
My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor is set during World War 2 and the protagonist is a Roman Catholic priest in the Vatican. If you’d asked me, before I read it, whether I’d choose a book of that kind, I’m not sure that I’d have answered, “Yes”. On the other hand, I’ve just got back from Rome, so that aspect was appealing, as was the cover. Add to that, the author is very well reviewed for previous books, especially Star of the Sea, so in the end I was very happy to receive this review copy and give it a whirl.
What a treat in store! The novel is fiction, based on real people and historical facts. It features the so-called Escape Line that helped allied prisoners to escape German prisoner-of-war camps and evade capture by the Nazis on their way to safe territory. But My Father’s House deals with so much more than this basic premise. There are themes concerning relationships, trust, human nature, love and friendship. The characters are people doing good simply because it is the right thing to do, whatever the risk. And yes – plenty of glorious detail about Rome, its history and its scenery.
Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty is an Irishman in the Vatican, who has grown up familiar with the mindset of the “hatred of the conqueror”, in his case English oppression of the Irish. He finds a ready parallel for this emotion in the feeling of the Italians and allies for the German occupiers of Rome. Certain occurrences make it plain to him that his mission of to act to protect the oppressed and he finds a quirky group of like-minded people. They are British, Irish, Dutch, American nobility and armed forces, an Italian worker and others. The group organise themselves as the Choir, meeting under the pretence of singing practice, while secretly plotting a great act of resistance: a Rendimento. The author builds tension throughout and, when the pain just about becomes bearable, he ramps it up some more.
The wonderfully depicted characters and the (fictional) interviews, memoirs and letters make for a thoroughly believable and gripping tale. I particularly enjoyed the way the author has written in dialect, so that I can ‘hear’ the characters talking. The members of the Choir are in a terrible predicament, where it is all but impossible to tell who can be trusted. Great acts of faith and potentially self-sacrifice are involved in their altruistic mission. Even the church hierarchy has to be suspect because the risks to the Vatican are so great, if they should be discovered collaborating. As the countdown to the Rendimento progresses, the outcome is far from certain, and I was desperate that the characters would survive. After the denouement, I was disconcerted when the story appeared to have several ‘wrapping up’ chapters, but it’s well worth reading on to finally discover the truth of what happened.
This book is moving, terrifying, enlightening and at times very funny. It is highly recommended for readers of historical fiction, war novels, lovers of Rome, and anyone interested in the way humans behave under pressure of the most extreme kind.
Sue for the TripFiction Team
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