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My Father's House

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My Father's House

By: Joseph O'Connor
Narrated by: Barry Barnes, Stephen Hogan, Barnaby Edwards, Laurence Bouvard, Aoife Duffin, Gertrude Thoma, David John, Roberto Davide, Thomas Hill
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. The war's outcome is far from certain.

An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, the world's smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. Here Hugh brings together an unlikely band of friends to hide the vulnerable under the noses of the enemy.
But Hauptmann's net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. By Christmastime, it's too late to turn back.

Based on an extraordinary true story, My Father's House is a powerful literary thriller from a master of historical fiction. Joseph O'Connor has created an unforgettable novel of love, faith and sacrifice, and what it means to be truly human in the most extreme circumstances.

© Joseph O'Connor 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023

 20th Century Biographical Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Jewish Suspense Thriller & Suspense World Literature Fiction War Rome

Critic Reviews

A spectacular, thrilling novel...suspense crackles...celebrates triumphant against-the-odds camaraderie.
O'Connor is on stellar form with this ensemble thriller ...while the story's inbuilt tension urges you on, it's the sheer vigour of O'Connor's beautifully turned phrases that really makes the book sing...an expert storyteller
A literary thriller of the highest order. The incarnation of O'Flaherty, the Irish Oskar Schindler, is sublime. What often elevates a writer is compassion, and O'Connor has it in spades... Beautifully crafted, his razor-sharp dialogue is to be savoured, and he employs dark humour to great effect. The plot twists keep on coming
Breathtakingly good writing - O'Connor puts you right there, centre stage in the story and never lets you go (Peter James)
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.
Thrilling... Based on true events, this tense, gripping narrative is rendered in beautifully evocative prose
Impressive and pleasurable...the diverse ventriloquism of O'Connor's novel evokes a city in peril with wonderful vitality
A tale worth re-telling, adorned as it is by the brilliants of O'Connor's impressionistic writing (Best New Thrillers)
A powerful portrait of extraordinary courage
Precisely choreographed... We eagerly follow the characters through uncertainty and disappointment as well as high-stakes jeopardy. O'Connor is playing with the possibilities of multiple narrators, and thinking also about plurality, reliability and the historical record
All stars
Most relevant
This book was my most enjoyable listen for 2022. The story has it all, plot, characters, places, an historical background and a wonderful story-telling device.The voices were the best Ive heard on the many Audible books I’ve listened to and while generally I prefer the one voice these voices and characterisations were excellent.
While the role of the Catholic Church is not examined it is by no means overlooked. It is exemplified very powerfully in a brief but shocking to me appearance by the Pope in a single interaction with the main character.
Though some may find the time changes and narrative swapping style of the book, frustrating, I found they ultimately worked.
As a reader born in 1944 the book resonated with my life in many ways and was both enjoyable, entertaining and engaging.

Beautiful, memorable and unforgettable.

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Everything. I lived everything about this audio book. The writing is beautiful and the narration on point in every instance. Gold standard for audiobooks

Best narration I have ever heard

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This would without doubt be the most beautiful book I have listened to. Incredibly written with expert narration from a number of actors. The characters are rich and well rounded and the narrative is sublime and poetic in parts. I savoured every word and had it not been so long… not complaining at all… I would have listened to it in one sitting. A beautiful book that I will not easily forget.

A brilliant production of an incredible story.

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The various narrators in the audiobook version of this story vividly evoke the distinct, realistically complex personality of each character, bringing to life this dark scary period of our not so distant history. An important story brilliantly told.

Heart-pounding

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