The Ghosts Of Rome

Author Joseph O'Connor
Narrator Stephen Hogan, Barnaby Edwards, Aoife Duffin, David John, Gertrude Thoma, Laurence Bouvard, various
Publisher Random House
Publish Date 30 January 2025
Run Time 11 hours and 48 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Adventure fiction, Biographical fiction, Historical fiction, Second World War fiction, Thriller / suspense fiction.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

February 1944. Six months since Nazi forces occupied Rome.

Inside the beleaguered city, the Contessa Giovanna Landini is a member of the band of Escape Line activists known as ‘The Choir’. Their mission is to smuggle refugees to safety and help Allied soldiers, all under the nose of Gestapo boss Paul Hauptmann.

During a ferocious morning air raid a mysterious parachutist lands in Rome and disappears into the backstreets. Is he an ally or an imposter? His fate will come to put the whole Escape Line at risk.

Meanwhile, Hauptmann’s attention has landed on the Contessa. As his fascination grows, she is pulled into a dangerous game with him – one where the consequences could be lethal.

© Joseph O'Connor 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

Blazes with imaginative flair and narrative energy... packed with sensuously evoked reminders of Rome's rich past...haunted and haunting

Sunday Times

[A] vivid and moving story, with Ou2019Connor seamlessly combining real characters with imagined ones

Guardian

The Ghosts of Rome is both a tribute to the imagination and courage of his remarkable team [of The Escape Line] and a riveting thriller

Times Literary Supplement

There is no finer writer of historical fiction than Joseph Ou2019Connor. . . Beautifully written, warm and witty, this story of a terrorised city is a must-read. Thrilling, terrifying and entertaining in equal measure.

Liz Nugent, Number One Bestselling author of STRANGE SALLY DIAMOND

It was hard to turn pages fast enough to keep up with the rapid-fire pace of The Ghosts of Rome. Joseph O'Connor lures readers into a little known, but important, facet of World War II history and keeps them hooked until the very last page.

Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling author of THE MYSTERY OF MRS. CHRISTIE

Digs ever deeper into the lives of the everyday heroes of a war-ravaged city, unearthing stories of remarkable courage and ingenuity that glitter from the pages of this tense, polyphonic narrative

Sarah Gilmartin

Breathtakingly good writing - O'Connor puts you right there, centre stage in the story and never lets you go

Peter James, on MY FATHER'S HOUSE

O'Connor is on stellar form with this ensemble thriller...an expert storyteller

Daily Mail, on MY FATHER'S HOUSE

A masterwork... so urgent, so incredibly alive... A searing and beautiful example of storytelling's infinite importance

Donal Ryan, on MY FATHER'S HOUSE

Impressive and pleasurable...evokes a city in peril with wonderful vitality

Financial Times, on MY FATHER'S HOUSE

User Reviews

Book 5.0

Narration 5.0

5.0

A superb narration to a sequel to the excellent My Fatheru2019s House. This book has the same heroic, if flawed, characters plus a few new ones, their exploits beautifully rendered. Highly recommended.

debbyk 19/02/2025

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