FINALIST FOR THE 2024 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE
A WASHINGTON POST AND IRISH TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Inspired by a true story, My Father’s House is the extraordinary World War II account of a daring attempt to smuggle thousands of innocents through the Vatican and out of occupied Rome right under the noses of the city’s Nazi occupiers.

September 1943: German forces have Rome under their control. SS Commander Paul Hauptmann rules over the Eternal City with vicious efficiency. The war’s outcome is far from certain. Diplomats, refugees, Jews, and escaped Allied prisoners flee for protection into Vatican City, a neutral, independent state nestled in the city of Rome. A small band of unlikely friends led by a courageous Irish priest is drawn into deadly battle of wits with Hauptmann and his soldiers.

Suspenseful and beautifully written, My Father’s House tells an unforgettable story of love, faith, sacrifice, and courage.

“A literary thriller of the highest order.”—The Guardian

Joseph O’Connor
Joseph O’Connor’s Star of the Sea was an international bestseller, a New York Times, Economist Notable Book of the Year, and a Sunday Times Number 1 bestseller. It won France’s Prix Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi, the Irish Post Award for Fiction, the Nielsen Bookscan Golden Book Award, an American Library Association Award, the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Hall of Fame Award, and the Prix Litteraire Zepter for European Novel of the Year. He is the author of nine novels and is the Inaugural Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. Shadowplay was named Novel of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards and was a finalist for the prestigious Costa Book Award.

• Jun 28 2024
   “One of his best, and that’s saying something, obviously.&rdquo
  — MSN
• Jun 15 2024
  “Enthralling.”
  — The Post
• Jun 6 2024
  “A skillful portrayal of the evils of fascism and the fortitude demanded of those who would oppose it.”
  — The Catholic Spirit
• May 11 2024
  “An intelligent thriller.”
  — Actual News Magazine
• Dec 20 2023
  “Tense and thrilling.”
  — Hot Press
• Jan 28 2023
  “A masterful mix.”
  — Irish Times