This story, based on Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty's experiences in the Vatican, and Italy, during WWII, played out exceptionally well, keeping me engrossed and keen to see how the story of Christmas Eve 1943's Rendimento would play out. It was gripping, tense, personal and full of character back story and multiple points of view from a number of people involved in the escape line and that night's mission.

As I read, My Father's House played out in my mind like a black and white 1940s noir film. The detail was extraordinary, creating a vision that seemed so clear to me. I felt an invested member of the Choir, anxious to do my bit to bring about mission success. A great story of grit and perseverance against a dangerous enemy, I was hooked and will certainly be on the look out for more novels by Joseph O'Connor.

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor is a comprehensive historical novel that will educate you as you read.
The novel is set in occupied Rome in 1943. It has its’ roots in fact but is a work of fiction set around real life personalities.
There are two alternating time periods – Rome 1943 leading up to Christmas Eve and 1963 with a series of interviews and musings from various characters. The tale has been well planned and executed.
There is a complex cast of characters from various countries who are working together to help the Jewish people escape from Rome. We hear of the Nazi leader of occupied Rome who rules with a reign of terror. In contrast, he is also a family man. It is very strange to witness these distinct personalities existing in one man. The family man does not sit easy, in my mind, with the brutal sadistic personality.
This is a story that needs to be told as we see the extraordinary bravery of ordinary men and women who put their lives on the line to rescue other. I did not know anything about what had happened in Rome during World War II until I read this book. Thank you Joseph O’Connor for opening my eyes.
I received a free copy via Net Galley. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

Joseph O'Conner has a very unique way of pulling you back in history that makes you feel every single moment.
My Father's House is set in Rome after the Nazi's invasion just before Christmas in 1943.
Vatican City was still a safe haven and Priest Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty...an alter ego for Ugo. Whom you will soon meet it the book.
He is tasked by the Nazi's to witness the horrifying treatment on Italy's prisons of war camps.
This book is harrowing, but brilliantly written and sometimes soul destroying.
But I can't recommend it highly enough.

It’s Rome in 1943. The Germans are in charge whilst Romans starve, living under threats from both allied bombing and the brutality of the Gestapo. There sits the Vatican, independent and neutral in the War. Many escaping prisoners of war seek refuge there together with Jews and some diplomatic staff hoping for assistance to reach Switzerland and eventual passage home.

Whilst not all in the Vatican sympathise with their plight, Monsignor O’Flaherty an Irish priest in the Holy Office wants to help them, unofficially. A gregarious and entertaining man with many talents and a false sense of modesty, he seeks aid from a small disparate group of acquaintances with efforts to raise funds to aid their passages with disguises, clothing, railway tickets etc. The Group are known as the ‘Choir’ and regularly meet for choir practice... To deceive the Gestapo they adopt code names not just for themselves but also for contacts, whilst roads and buildings in Rome are given false names. Each member of the Choir knows their role but none know the names of all contacts. Everything is on a strictly “need to know” basis.

Christmas Eve is planned for a mass exodus, with a chain of supporters and guides in place to get them to the Border. We follow the hiccups and pitfalls as the clock ticks down. The Gestapo is more frenzied in its efforts to capture the leaders and fleeing people. A bullet awaits them all. All builds to a Crescendo.....

Joseph O’Connor captures, vividly fictionalised events, happening in Rome at the time. The picture of extreme risk taking, heroism and bravery to aid others is a timely reminder of the brutality of War and the generosity and sacrifices others take to aid the oppressed.

Very well worth reading. Highly Recommended

This is a seriously good story of resistance in the Vatican during WW11. The main character an Irish Monsignor is a towering individual allied with heroic people involved with the escape route founded to assist escaped POW’s. Endlessly tense and atmospheric Rome and the Vatican are beautifully described, the violence of the fascist regime shocking. The best novel I’ve read for some time.

Hugh O’Flaherty was an Irish Catholic Monsignor working in the Vatican during the Second World War. Together with other members of his ‘Choir’ he played a major part in operating an escape line for prisoners of war and Jewish refugees many of whom where still in hiding when Rome was liberated in June 1944. My Father’s House is a fictional account of this true story and Joseph O’Connor does a brilliant job in its telling.
This is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and I have no reservations in recommending it.

I was so looking forward to this book as I love historical books, however I could not complete this book which is extremely rare for me as usually after a struggle I find all books have something to offer me as a reader. This time I had to give up because of the amazing number of missing letters and in some places formatting issues as well. Trying to get into a book when you are constantly trying to complete words mentally was just too much for me. I have enjoyed the author in the past and once the book is released I will go out and get it as he is a good author and the subject matter is very appealing.

I'm not really a great fan of historical fiction / inspired by real events books but this offering has certainly changed my mind. It took off a such a pace and kept my attention to the end. Highly recommended.

<b> [book:My Father's House|61447882] by [author: Joseph O'Connor|34713] was a book that I was so eager to get my hands on and I was so excited when I got a copy from Net Galley to read in return for an honest review. I am such a fan of Joseph O'Connor and would rate [book:Star of the Sea|147848][bookcover:Star of the Sea|147848] in my top 20 favourite books . </b>

My Father’s House is 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.

The premise of this story set my heart racing and I just couldn't wait to get struck in but unfortunately, I just couldn't connect with the writing style and while I got about 1/2 ways through the book, I felt I was struggling and not getting my head around the story. I tried taking this one in smaller bites and just reading a few pages a night, but it didn't work for me. I am so disappointed as I love this author. 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><B>I appreciate the opportunity from Net Galley to read this advance copy in return for an honest review.

I can’t stop raving about this book to everyone!

The writing is phenomenal I was in awe.

I don’t want to say too much regards to the story because I’m scared I’ll give something away.

Amazing book, amazing characters, can’t wait to buy it!

Highly recommend!

I adored this book. Quality writing and an enthralling true life taie. I’ve already posted on Twitter how wonderful it is and a
So shared with a friend living in Rome. Thank you Mr O Connor, you’re wonderful.

Wow! I could not put this book down. Before I even finished it I was recommending it people. I read in an anxious heightened sense of fear. It has me so curious about the real events that inspired the novel to the point that I've added the books from the acknowledgements to my TBR. Absolutely fantastic. Can't wait for the follow up books.

My only previous experience of Joseph O’Connor’s work is his novel Shadowplay, a fictionalized account of the life of Bram Stoker which was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Fiction 2020. That book utilised a number of structural techniques including diary entries, letters and transcripts of conversations as well as more traditional third person narration, and the same is true of this latest novel. 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’. The book is based on the true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty who, along with others, risked his life to smuggle thousands of Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy. The cover for the operations is a choir, with musical or literary terms used as code words.

Although Hugh O’Flaherty is the key character I loved the way the author brought to life the other members of the group. They recount their experiences by means of transcripts of interviews recorded twenty years after the events in question allowing the reader to hear the distinctive voices the author has created for them. For example, the acerbic wit and Irish lilt of displomat’s wife, Delia Kiernan – ‘Some little jack-in-office of a penpusher thinks he’ll lord it over yours truly? Take the back of my arse and boil it’. Or the Italian-American slang of Enzo Angeluccio or the Cockney accent and sardonic asides of John May. Describing his first encounter with his future employer and fellow member of the choir, Sir D’Arcy Osborne, in a Soho nightclub frequented by gay men: ‘So Sir D’Arcy’s in one midnight with a couple of his old school muckers and they’re larking about with the drag boys. It’s coming on a bit fairyland and hark-at-her, Gladys, and they’re calling Sir D’Arcy ‘Francesca’, just good clean fun…’

There are also brilliant little details about life in neutral Vatican City such as the fact it was necessary for residents to apply for a haircut pass the leave its boundaries.

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.’

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. ‘What was being rehearsed would have got us tortured to death by Hauptmann.’ Judging by what we learn about him, he’d have enjoyed that.

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. I loved the way the author includes passages made up of short, sharp bursts of descriptive prose that are almost like poetry. ‘On the fourth floor, breathless, he unlocks the scriptorium and enters. The vast shutters of his workplace half-closed. Bowed bookshelves. Onyx inkwells. Stacks of mouldering files. Mousegnawed dissertations on Christology. Quills and their sharpeners. Letter-openers. Ledgers. Spiderwebbed portraits of virginal martyrs. A knot of tangled scapulars dangling from a doorknob, near a trinity of rickety candlesticks. Relics and rat traps. A skull doing duty as memento mori. Tomes. Bones. Combed texts of encyclicals. Leaded windows left unwashed for a long as anyone can remember.’

My Father’s House is a thrilling story of heroism, intrigue and ingenuity told with great panache.

This was the first O'Connor I've read and as a result of this I've ordered every other one. I found the writing absolutely compelling. The narrative structure really engaged tension as the split time sequence and the multi-vocal perspectives built a story that sustained the tension so that the end was still a surprise and appropriately fulfilling. The blend of fact and narrative was brilliantly managed and as always I was thankful for a robust reading list at the end - many of the books I've now ordered from my academic library.
But most of all it was just a superbly told story. Full of narrative twists and turns and brilliantly drawn characters whose voices were authentic. The settings were beautifully captured even in their 'hauntingness' having read a number of these types of stories based in other regions of Europe it sits well within the top one or two I've ever read.
A fantastic story and I can't wait to read more. There's definitely room for a 'sequel' as the characters worked a variety of other scenarios and I would be keen to read more about them all.

What a great story! Resistance work inside the Vatican when surrounded by the Nazis. Unfortunately it is so disjointed, jumps around all over the place, goes off on tangents and then tries to get too artsy that it loses the plot at times. When the story is being told it is great, when it gets lost down various rabbit holes it really detracts from a fabulous premise

This is an excellent read and a much needed reminder of how a person of faith makes a profound difference. Based on a true story of Mon. Hugh O’Flagherty, the central character is a faithful, obedient priest who abides by his conscience rather than follow the dictates of men. Using courage, ingenuity, a sense of justice yet also compassion he masterminded the escape of over 6,000 people, escaped prisoners, Jewish people from the nazis. The book focuses on how he outwitted the gestapo head in Rome, but there is much more to his story and the team who worked with him. It is also great to see a person of faith portrayed as a strong yet normal human, one passionate about sport able to relate well to all, yet demonstrating humility and selflessness. A great character.

This is a wonderful novel by Irish writer Joseph O'Connor , that will have you at the edge of your seat. It is set in Rome in 1943, at the height of the German Occupation of the city.. The protagonist is an Irish priest, who lives in the neutral Vatican City, Monsignor Hugh O Flaherty. He is committed to helping people escape the clutches of the Nazi regime, He organises an escape route to Switzerland, aided and abetted by a coterie of Roman friends under the very noses of the Gestapo and its Chief Officer Paul Hauptmann. In doing so he puts his life at risk and the lives of all those assisting him.
This story is told in two timelines, the days leading up to the escape and twenty years later when those involved give their personal details of the intrepid mission.. and the part they played.in its success. It is a beautifully written novel that explores what it is to be truly human in a cruel, unstable world of violence and human sacrifice. That it is based on a true story makes it all the more remarkable and extraordinary.
I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review.

This was such a good book. I love historical fiction, especially when it is about eras/ situations that I previously knew nothing about and this was definitely one of those books. It was so well researched and so compelling in its narrative that not only did I love reading it but I felt that I learned too. A really enjoyable read and perfect for any fans of historical fiction. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

A dual timeline book mainly telling the true story of wartime Rome in 1943/4.. Hugh is an Irish Catholic priest working in the Vatican and I really enjoyed his descriptions of life under the Germans. Lots of humour when reflecting on life.

The use of a choir has individuals working to help those who have escaped German wartime camps, Keep going to the end to read about events on Christmas Eve!!

Mostly an enjoyable read.

Thanks to net Galley and Random House UK for the chance to read and review.

My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor is the unique story of an heroic Irish priest Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty stationed in the Vatican city during the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1943. With a number of unlikely allies he organises the escape of various fugitives from the clutches of the Nazis to safety. The Rendimento requires meticulous planning during many 'choir' practices with his chosen accomplices.

My Father's House is a fictional story based on actual events; O'Connor's majestic retelling is a delight. The unlikely cast of characters assisting the Monsignor are perfectly described, their testimony is recorded a couple of decades after the events being told.

A rewarding read which opens a door into events of which I had no prior knowledge. Highly recommended.