A monsignor in the Vatican during WW2 manages an escape route for Allied POWs
Hugh O'FLaherty is a big Irishman, fond of boxing, with a temper. He is assigned to the Vatican in the ministry that handles annulments. He is given a collateral assignment to minister to POWs in the German camps, becomes enraged, insults the camp commandants, and tangles with the Gestapo chief in Rome. The Pope himself orders him confined to the Vatican, but he hides Allied soldiers in the crypts, and engages an English ambassador, the wife of the Irish representative to the Papal See, an Italian contessa, and others in the Choir, so named because they conduct their meetings in the Vatican while practicing choral music. The main action is on Christmas Eve, when packets of money needed to get the POW's out of Rome have to be delivered secretly around the city. The story is mostly told in third person narrative, but there are long sections of interviews and reminiscences from the participants, given to reporters for a BBC documentary, and at the end of the story Hugh is in London for a visit during the airing of the program. The Gestapo chief Hauptman is a complex character, and forms a obsession with O'Flaherty that at the end turns into his education in and conversion to Catholicism when in prison after the war. The epilogues explains that the story is based on true events.
The author is fond of elaborate and evocative scenes, describing in detail the streets of Rome and the Vatican, the sights and smells of the gardens and crypts. The prose is sophisticated, but I thought it somewhat impeded the flow of the narrative

I was looking forward to reading this novel - it sounded fabulous. Set in the Vatican during WWII and. based on the true story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, a man who risked his life trying to save others from the Nazis, this was my type of book!

However, it didn't deliver. I couldn't connect with the writing style and I hated how the story was interspersed with transcripts of later interviews from the members of O'Flaherty's choir - the group that had been involved in helping over 6,500 Jews and allied POWs escape from Italy. They made the story disjointed and ruined the continuity of the main plot. The short sentences added to this feeling.,

I couldn't finish this novel and gave up just past the halfway point. I googled Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty after I had put the novel aside and was amazed at his bravery. His story deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated, however, "My Father's House" didn't do justice to the real man. What should have been an action-packed, nail-biting, tension-filled novel was a tedious read filled with unnecessary detail and too many narrators. A very disappointing story. ( )

Based on a true story, My Father's House is inspired by the extraordinary life of Monsignor Hugh O' Flaherty, who risked his life to smuggle Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy in 1943 during the WWII. He was a brave and unconventional man who devised clever schemes with the help of some unlikely people to keep people safe and under the radar of the Nazis. It's an amazing story of courage and bravery during the war where the Rome Escape Line was used to move people through the Vatican to safety even under the watchful eyes of the Germans. He organized "choir" practice where the song and music were used to mask the sounds of their plans and to confuse the Nazi soldiers who were likely eavesdropping. This is the first book of a trilogy.

I received a complimentary advanced reader's copy of this book from Edelweiss and Vintage Digital. My review is voluntary and all opinions are expressly my own. ( )

The first in the Rome Escape Line trilogy, it’s inspired by the true story of Hugh O’Flaherty, a priest who helped Allied prisoners of war and Jewish people escape Italy during WWII when Rome was occupied by the Nazis.

This is a wonderful piece of historical fiction based on fact. It’s written by way of BBC transcripts and documents interspersed with the suspenseful build up to the ‘Rendimento’, a well planned mission, on Christmas Eve in 1943. It’s beautifully written in a very evocative and descriptive manner, even operatic in some ways. The bravery of Hugh and the rest of ‘the choir’, as they were known, is astonishing. Each voice is distinctly written and easily recognisable without the person being named. The story rattles along at a fair rate. It’s really quite the page turner and very much a thriller. We should be extremely thankful to people such as these as they contributed to our freedoms today, they were and are heros. Being caught would’ve meant certain death. A powerful, moving and worthwhile read and I look forward to reading book two, The Ghosts of Rome. ( )

(61) I enjoyed this loan from another reader - one of two of O'Connor's novels she loaned me. (The other being "Star of the Sea," which I think I liked a bit better than this one) This novel was based on a true story, set during the Nazi occupation of Rome. Vatican City remained neutral, yet there were people living in the Vatican, namely the priest Hugh O' Flaherty, in this novel, who help escaped Allied prisoners hide and find their way to freedom. Through a network of spies the group plans a big money drop for Christmas Eve just as the Commandant of Rome is closing in on their network. The author does a good job with suspense and the end of the book when the mission is taking place was gripping.

The descriptions of Rome, and St Peter's, and the Vatican museum resonated with me having just visited again this past year. I like all the Catholic religiosity, the Latin, the incense, the medieval feel of things - the antiquity and the creepiness is probably my favorite part of the religion. That being said, while some of the author's lyricism was beautiful, some of it felt contrived. At times he veered in to Joycean reveries that were a bit much. I don't recall as much of that in the previous book of his I read. His prose is decent, he doesn't need to add poetic flourishes.

Sometimes when basing a novel on a true story, you are limited by the facts. In this case Father Hugh turned into a rather ordinary man and the ending was a bit of a let down. But overall, an entertaining read. I would definitely read more from O'Connor. ( )