Joseph O’Connor’s “The Ghosts of Rome,” the second in a planned World War II-set trilogy, has been named An Post Irish Book of the Year.
The first volume was focussed on the real-life Hugh O’Flaherty, a monsignor originally from County Kerry whose resistance network in Rome helped Jews, Allied fighters and others escape the clutches of the Nazis. The hero of “My Father’s House” is still involved but the action centers more on the fictional Contessa Giovanna Landini, whom everyone calls “Jo.” because of her fondness for the character in “Little Women.”
O’Connor told the Echo earlier this year, “I wrote ‘The Ghosts of Rome’ in late 2023 and throughout 2024, a time when the world had troubles aplenty, so it was good to be reminded every day as I sat down at the desk that there are now and have always been people of Jo’s values and strengths. People who give you hope." See the interview here.
The New York Times’ reviewer said, “As with O’Connor’s earlier novels, the power of “The Ghosts of Rome” comes from the dazzling variety of voices employed, the sense of a world constructed in multiple
