Starred review from December 12, 2022
The riveting latest from O’Connor (Shadowplay), the first in a trilogy, chronicles the meticulous planning and execution of the escape of hundreds of Allied prisoners and Jews hiding in Vatican City during WWII. It’s December 1943 and Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty and seven associates who refer to themselves as “the Choir” have exploited the Vatican’s sovereignty as a minuscule neutral state to hide refugees from the Nazi occupation of Rome in numerous abandoned sheds, bombed-out buildings, and tunnels. Though they undertake their work with extreme caution—using aliases and forged IDs, referring to their charges in formal communications as “Books” and the hiding places as “Shelves”—they have aroused the suspicion of brutal Gestapo Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptmann, whose efforts to apprehend the fugitives come to a head early Christmas morning. Through wonderfully developed and varied characters, O’Connor conveys both the painful privations of life during wartime and the nobility of the Choir’s goals, and the unfolding of O’Flaherty’s marathon of undercover subterfuges that lay the groundwork for their mission in the middle section is a storytelling tour de force. This is top-drawer WWII fiction. Agent: Isobel Dixon, Blake Friedmann.
Starred review from June 10, 2024
Irish Book Award winner O'Connor's (Star of the Sea) first entry in the "Rome Escape Line Trilogy" is a thriller of the first order, narrated by a full cast of nine superb narrators. Set in 1943 Vatican City during the German invasion of Rome, the story is based on actual people and events. Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty and seven others form a "Choir"--supposedly a musical group, but really an escape line intended to help Jews and Allied POWs escape from the Gestapo. The group employs the most secretive tactics, including aliases, forged IDs, and coded communications, knowing that they could be discovered at any moment. Obersturmbannf�hrer Paul Hauptmann poses the greatest risk to the operation, as he knows of the escape line and is determined to root out the ones in charge. With vibrant characterizations and spot-on accents, the narrators convey the characters' rich backstories, luring listeners into this terrifying and dangerous world. VERDICT O'Connor's latest is a page-turner from start to finish. This riveting listen is a must-purchase and is highly recommended for fans of Mark T. Sullivan's Beneath a Scarlet Sky or the 1983 film The Scarlet and the Black, starring Gregory Peck as Father O'Flaherty.--Scott DiMarco
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