My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor - A Novel - forthcoming January 31, 2023 - A Novel - forthcoming January 31, 2023 - 440 pages

 My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor - A Novel - forthcoming January  2023- 440 Pages 

Set  in Nazi  Occupied  Rome  during September 1943 gestapo boss  Obersturmbannführer Paul Hauptman rules the city with terror and violence Hunger is widespread. Rumors fester. The war’s outcome is far from certain. 

Diplomats, refugees, and escaped Allied prisoners flee for protection into Vatican City, at one fifth of a square mile the world’s smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome. A small band of unlikely friends led by a courageous Irish priest is drawn into deadly danger as they seek to help those seeking refuge. 

Book 1 in the Rome Escape Line Trilogy, My Father’s House is a powerful, heartbreaking literary thriller based on the true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who risked his life to smuggle thousands of Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy under the nose of his Nazi nemesis. A deadly high-stakes battle of wits ensues in this astonishing, unforgettable story of love, faith and sacrifice, exploring what it means to be truly human in the most extreme circumstances 

Having read four prior novels by Joseph O'Connor, i had high hopes for this work. I was certainly not disappointed . In addition to the plotline in 1943, there are segments set in England in 1963 and beyond, interviews with participants, a section of an unfinished memoir and an account of what happened to the Gestapo leader after the war.  

Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor - 2019- 307 Pages

Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor -2019- 307 Pages

Bram Stoker

Born: November 8, 1847, Dublin

Dracula - Published 1897 

Died: April 20, 1912, London 

Shadowplay is fourth novel by Joseph O’Connor I have had the pleasure of reading.

Shadowplay, much of the work is set in London, tells a story centered upon Bram Stoker’s work as a theater manager.  Stoker’s relationship to two of the most important figures of the Late Victorian Stage is a central part of  plot, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.  Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats (described as resembling a silver back gorrila) and George  Bernard Shaw strut upon the stage.  Under it all, we see developing in Stoker’s mind Dracula.

Henry Irving was a famous Shakespearian actor, owner of the theater and Stoker’s employer.  He is volatile, wealthy, given to insulting Stoker, he called him “Auntie”, but he totally depended on Stoker to run the theater.  Managing the finances was a serious challenge.  Shadowplay was an education in Victorian Theater management for me.

Stoker’s wife does not entirely approve of the atmosphere of the theater.  Young actresses in scanty outfits, heavy drinking, late hours.  To compound it all Jack the Ripper is killing young women, terrorizing London.  Irving and Stoker make sure all the women of the theater make it home safely.

The novel is also about long friendships, aging, marriage and physical decay.  The prose is exquisite.

“Irish novelist Joseph O’Connor is the author of 18 books, including the bestselling Star of the Sea. His most recent, Shadowplay, won novel of the year at the Irish Book awards for 2019 and is also on the shortlist for the Costa novel . He is currently adapting the book for film.” From The Guardian

Mel Ulm

 

Redemption Falls by Joseph O'Connor 2008

Redemption Falls is the third novel by Joseph O'Connor I have so far read.   It is the most challenging and probably his greatest achievement to date.  My first of his books Star of the Sea was set on a famine ship, 1843, bringing refugees from famine ridden Ireland to New York City. O'Connor let us see the events in the lives of people on the ship that made them embark on this desperate journey.  I really enjoyed this book.  The second of his books I read was Ghost Light.  It's central character is an actress, Molly Allgood, who had what was at the time a scandoulous romance with the Irish playwright John Synge.   Allgood was the leading lady in some of the plays of Synge preformed at the Abbey at Theater.  The romance was doomed by class differences and the disapproval of Synge's mother and others.   Molly way out lived Synge and we learn a lot backstage life and business in the Irish theater.  I was fascinated by this wonderful novel.

The core, linking character is Eliza Mooney.  She was born in New York City around 1847 to famine ship emigrants.  Redemption Falls starts in post Civil War Louisinna in 1865.  It brilliantly brings to life post Civil War Louisinna.  It is not at all a conventional straightforward narration.  It is a collage of posters, letters, official government records, songs, interviews combined with the narrative.  There are two sort of central threads to the story, deeply entertained.  .  It is also the story of the famous Irish patriot and rebel James O'Keefe.  In 1848 the British transported him to Van Diems Land for inciting the Irish to rebel.  He escaped and wound up in New York City.  Eliza Mooney (if you have read another much more famous Irish in the American Civil War novel, Gone With the Wind, then Eliza Mooney would be "white trash" in the eyes if Scarlett O'Hara) sets out across a ravaged country in search of her twelve year old brother who was a drummer boy in the Condererate Army.  She has heard he is in the town of Redeption Falls, located probably in modern Utah or Montana.  James O'Keefe and his fiery ravaging  wife want to adopt the boy and that is the connection.  

This is very much also an Irish historical novel.  There are brilliant flashback to Ireland and many of those who we encounter are Irish emigrants.   The horrors of the Civil War are vividly shown.  We meet some amazing people including a slave woman.  In the social hierarchy of the time and place, Irish like Eliza were one small step above freed slaves.  

Redeption Falls is a very powerful work of art, much more challenging than the two prior novels by O'Connor I read.  I read this book very slowly over six weeks or so, very much contrary to my normal methods.  I would almost say try his other books first.  If you like historical novels about the American Civil War and the Irish in America, then you should really like this book.  

I have now read all of his historical novels.  He has another novel, Inishonen, out in kindle format set in contemporary Ireland and I might read it next year or maybe I will just wait for another historical novel.  

Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin in 1963. He is the author of the novels Cowboys and Indians (short-listed for the Whitbread Prize), Desperadoes , The Salesman , Inishowen , Star of the Sea and Redemption Falls , as well as a number of bestselling works of non-fiction.

He was recently voted ‘Irish Writer of the Decade’ by the readers of Hot Press magazine. He broadcasts a popular weekly radio diary on RTE’s Drivetime With Mary Wilson and writes regularly for The Guardian Review and The Sunday Independent. In 2009 he was the Harman Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Baruch College, the City University of New York.  From Goodreads

Ghost Light: A Novel by Joseph O'Connor (2011, 256 pages)

The Irish Quarter

I just finished a few days ago Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor and I was completely amazed by it.  (My post on it is here.)  Star of the Sea centers on the crossing of the ocean in 1847 from Galway to New York City by people driven from Ireland by the famine.

I am not sure this is right but at this moment I think Ghost Light:  A Novel is the greater of the two novels.  Ghost Light:  A Novel centers on Molly Allgood, the love interest in the life of John Synge, author of The Playboy of the Western World.  John Synge (1871 to 1909) is one of the most important authors in Irish literary history.  W. B. Yeats, who plays a minor but important role in this novel, proclaimed him a great genius.  I will say it takes either great self-confidence or a degree of hubris to include W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and John Synge as characters in a novel but O'Connor pulls this off with transcendent brilliance.   The novel begins in London long after Synge has died.  He never married her, even though he wanted to because his wealthy mother, by whom he seems dominated at least in his portrayal here, did not approve of her.   Molly Allgood is in very bad shape in every possible way.   She keeps her pride by reliving the days when Yeats proclaimed her a great actress and John Synge loved her.  Lady Gregory comes across as very class conscious and tries to tell Synge, not seemingly a strong person, that he is degrading himself through his relationship with Molly.   

There is just so much to like in this novel.  It was just wonderful to see W. B. Yeats brought down from the status of a towering icon to a real person.  One of the really amazing parts of the book was the treatment of Yeats.  As we first meet him he seems a complete egoist, totally full of himself but then we slowly begin to grasp what he was and we are humbled to be in his presence.   We do not like him but Gods don't always have to be likable.  

The novel goes into a lot of detail of how The Abbey Theater worked, behind the stage.  It flashed widely back and forth in time. Molly Allgood (also known by her stage named Marie O'Neill-1885 to 1952) outlived John Synge by fifty-three years but she never moved on from him.   How she copes with her poverty is just heartbreaking.  We also learn about her film career, her years down and out in London, and the start of her acting career.  She appeared in Juno and the Peacock directed by Alfred Hitchcock.  She married twice but, had children but it was always John Synge in her heart.

I love this book.  I am also very interested in the people in the novel.   I concede if you are not interested in John Synge (or for sure if you have not heard of him) this book may not be for you.  I would really suggest you read at least The Playbook of the Western World before reading this novel.  Everyone in this novel is a flawed person, even Yeats, but that just makes the work all the more wonderful.  

I will soon read his novel about the Irish in the American Civil War, Redemption Falls.   

Please share your experiences with O'Connor with us.  

I am also seeking recommendations for post 1990 Irish novels.  

Mel u

Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor (2004, 432 pages, 732 KB)

The Irish Quarter

Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor has to be must reading for anyone at all interested the human impact of the famine years in Ireland (1845 to 1850).   I have read several excellent histories of these years but none of them really brought the era to life, none brought me this close to what the human experience was like. I have gotten behind in my posting because I was out of internet touch for five days and yesterday our server was down 16 hours so I will keep this post short. (Amazon has lots of well done posts on this book, most singing its well deserved praises to the sky.)

The book is about the passage in 1847 on a ship from Galway bound for New York City.   It has wonderful stories about the lives of the people on the boat which help us see why they had to leave Ireland.     This book is really beyond my capacity to endorse it.   Some of the stories are just amazing in their depth and brilliance.  The passage over was very harsh and O'Connor spares us nothing.  The prose is beautiful.  This is a deeply moving book.  I loved it.

I am currently almost done with the authors book about the mistress of John Synge, Ghost Light:  A Novel.  I am trying to decide which book is more wonderful and so far I have not been able to decide.  After completing that I will read his book centered around Irish participation in the American Civil War, Redemption Falls:  A Novel.  

Mel u

"The Long Way Home" by Joseph O'Connor

"The Long Way Home" by Joseph O'Connor  (1991, 22 pages)

Irish Short Story Month

Year III

March 1 to March 31

Joseph O'Connor

Dublin

Joseph O'Connor is one of Ireland's best known contemporary writers.   I have been drawing extensively from his anthology New Irish Short Stories this month.   He has over ten published books and several plays to his credit.   Other than his introduction to his anthology of short stories, "The Long Way Home" is my first experience with his work, and I certainly hope it will not be my last.

As "The Long Way Home" opens a Ray Priest  has  finally got sick of all the fights he and his wife have.   He packs all of his stuff in his car one night and after telling his brother his plans, who does not really think it is that great an idea to just leave with no destination in mind just because of a few fights.  Ray has made up his mind a bit after midnight he is on his way.   His wife is sound asleep when he leaves.   Once on the road a bit he spots a man by the side of he road seeking a ride, a hitchhiker.   Now we all know it is not a good idea, especially in a short story, to pick up a stranger by the side of the road but Ray feels like some company.  He stops for the man and asks him where he is going.    He says where ever you are.   The stranger is kind of scary looking and his questions to Ray are very pointed.   The rest of the story is interesting and keeps you wondering who the mysterious stranger might be.

I enjoyed this well written story and want to read some of his novels pretty soon, probably Ghost Light first.

I read this in The Anchor Book of New Irish Writing.


Author Data


JOSEPH O’CONNOR was born in Dublin in 1963 and was educated at University College, Dublin, and Oxford University. He became a full-time writer in 1988. His first novel, Cowboys and Indians (1991), was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. His other 

writings include the novels Desperadoes (1994) and The Salesman (1997); True Believers (1991), a collection of short stories that includes “The Long Way Home”; a play, Red Roses and Petrol (1995); and his nonfiction works, Even the Olives Are Bleeding (1992) (a biography of the Irish poet Charles Donnelly), The Secret World of the Irish Male (1994), The Irish Male at Home and Abroad (1996), and Sweet Liberty: Travels in Irish America (1996).  He is a member of Aosdana.   

Mel u