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

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From the publisher: Book 1 in the Rome Escape Line Trilogy, My Father’s House is a powerful, heartbreaking literary thriller 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, Hauptmann.

Changing time-lines, a character per chapter, perhaps my "abnormal-ness" is finding it a little difficult to cope with :-? Each chapter was read by one of the narrators listed above and we see the setting and atrocities through their eyes. 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.This is my first time reading this author and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future. But Hauptmann’s net begins closing in and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical.

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’. It was also wonderful to read about a churchman as a hero instead of a villain, as has so happened in recent times. How they were able to pull the wool over the ever-watchful eyes of Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptman. The glimpses of his human side are shocking, alongside his brutal behaviour and casual violence, while you feel his obsession with O’Flaherty and the mind games he uses against him, highlight O’Flaherty’s essential strength.

This read of historical fiction, based upon the true story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, is a literary thriller.

Four thousand frightened prisoners crammed like abused beasts, half starved, into a couple of barbed-wired stony fields. And it was as he was talking about some of his other books that I realised just how long I’ve been reading him. What we have here is a slice of the workings of the Rome Escape Line and Hugh's very necessary and risky involvement in the escape line. From ‘Cowboys and Indians’ and ‘Desperadoes’ back in my early university days, to ‘Star of the sea’ which he still gets letters about every week, to ‘Ghost light’ ‘Redemption falls’ - so many cracking reads over the years.But Hauptmann's net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. I dreaded putting the book down because I knew it meant I had to reread previous sections to familiarize myself with what was happening before I could continue. The goal of their mission was to help Jews, escaped Allied prisoners and diplomats escape from the persecution of the Nazis and escape from Italy. He was deeply affected by the plight of the prisoners, the filthy conditions of the camps and the inhuman treatment meted out to the prisoners by their Nazi captors.

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. Hugh created a network dedicated to moving as many "books" (code for escapees) from the "shelf" as possible, A cover was needed for this operation. Thrilling… Based on true events, this tense, gripping narrative is rendered in beautifully evocative prose. His home is Vatican City, the world's smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway.

His books include Cowboys and Indians, Inishowen, Star of the Sea (American Library Association Award, Irish Post Award for Fiction, France's Prix Millepages, Italy's Premio Acerbi, Prix Madeleine Zepter for European novel of the year), Redemption Falls, Ghost Light (Dublin One City One Book Novel 2011) and Shadowplay (Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year, Costa Novel of the Year shortlist).