For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. The novel’s evocative scene-setting, its propulsive narration and its powerful depiction of bravery and unity in extremis, all make for an engrossing read.” The character of O’Flaherty seems purpose built for novelisation. An admirably learned man of faith who risked his life to do the right thing. Something is being expressed that writing doesn't do, that painting doesn't do. They do beautiful things, but nothing else really does that, which, for me, is proof there is mystery in our daily experience. Music is probably the most universally loved art form yet it’s so abstract. When you think about it, music doesn't sound like anything but itself and yet we have this need and reverence for it. What more proof do you need that there is stuff about life we don't yet understand? When I hear music, I believe and I know that there's something going on in life that has not yet been quantified.”

I'm not a practicing catholic and I’m not here to propagandise on behalf of the Popes. What I would like to talk about is the book. We went to a mass said by the Pope in the Vatican on Christmas Eve and the theatre of it was splendid. It's probably the first time I've been to a mass that wasn't a funeral since I was seventeen. The Catholic Church is not part of my life. At the same time, if you're writing about a priest where it's not Father Ted, you have to reconcile yourself to the fact that he's strongly motivated by and believes in the central tenets of his faith. I'm not going to take the piss, I'm going to portray him with the respect that I feel for the real Hugh O'Flaherty and take my views out of it.” That torture and murder occurred is not in doubt; that brave sould risked their lives and often lost them is another given. What Joseph O'Connor weaves in My Father's House (what I believe is going to be the first part of a trilogy) is one version of a true and truly terrifying story but his research of the Monsignor and his "gang" has clearly been done meticulously. O'Connor brings an impressive range of thrillerish techniques to his storytelling... [ My Father's House is] vivid and atmospheric Tablet I always thought it would make a great story because he was a person of extraordinary physical courage,” O’Connor agrees. “I was thinking of a Marlon Brando doesn't take any shit kind of tough guy. I've read all of his papers, his family gave me his letters. He loved sport, boxing in particular, and his turn a phrase is, here and there, quite macho. My conception of him is that he was that kind of strong and silent type.”At the very end of the book, there’s a scene where the British ambassador, who is also based on a real person, Sir D’Arcy Osborne, is giving a speech. And he says, “When I have been requested down the years to define the Rome Escape Line, I’ve always said the same thing. And I always shall. It was my dear friend Hugh O’Flaherty and a number of us who loved him.” And I think that’s true. I was utterly engrossed from start to finish. The writing hums with energy. Such a gloriously vivid depiction of a Rome that is both familiar and altogether strange. And a powerful story of ordinary humans showing extraordinary bravery and tenacity. Bravo!”

Craven, Peter (10 March 2023). "This dazzling book about a priest fighting Nazis will keep you reading all night". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 12 March 2023.O'Connor is the eldest of five children and brother of singer Sinéad O'Connor. He is from the Glenageary area of south Dublin. [3] [4] His parents are Sean O'Connor, a structural engineer later turned barrister, and Marie O'Connor.