New historical fiction books to read in 2025

Reading lists

From Malcolm Lowry to Joseph O'Connor, Zadie Smith to Peppa Pig, lots of authors have chosen festivals in which to set memorable scenes.

Main-FestivalsInLiterature.jpg

Mud, music, mayhem: the greatest festival scenes in books

My Father's House

**AS SEEN ON BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS**AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4**THE NUMBER ONE IRISH BESTSELLER** 
 
When the Nazis take Rome, thousands go into hiding. One priest will risk everything to save them. 
 
September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. 
 
An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. He gathers a team to set up an Escape Line. 
 
But Hauptmann's net begins closing in and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. By Christmas, it's too late to turn back. 
 
Based on a true story, My Father's House is a powerful thriller from a master of historical fiction. It is an unforgettable novel of love, sacrifice and what it means to be human in the most extreme circumstances. 
 
'A spectacular, thrilling novel...suspense crackles...celebrates triumphant against-the-odds camaraderie' Sunday Times 
 
'A masterwork... so urgent, so incredibly alive... A searing and beautiful example of storytelling's infinite importance' Donal Ryan 
 
'Impressive and pleasurable...the diverse ventriloquism of O'Connor's novel evokes a city in peril with wonderful vitality' Financial Times 
 
LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2024 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024 
 
*The second book in the Rome Escape Line Trilogy, THE GHOSTS OF ROME, is available to pre-order now.*

A spectacular, thrilling novel...suspense crackles...celebrates triumphant against-the-odds camaraderie.

O'Connor is on stellar form with this ensemble thriller ...while the story's inbuilt tension urges you on, it's the sheer vigour of O'Connor's beautifully turned phrases that really makes the book sing...an expert storyteller

A literary thriller of the highest order. The incarnation of O'Flaherty, the Irish Oskar Schindler, is sublime. What often elevates a writer is compassion, and O'Connor has it in spades... Beautifully crafted, his razor-sharp dialogue is to be savoured, and he employs dark humour to great effect. The plot twists keep on coming

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

The novel's evocative scene-setting, its propulsive narration and its powerful depiction of bravery and unity in extremis, all make for an engrossing read.

Thrilling... Based on true events, this tense, gripping narrative is rendered in beautifully evocative prose

Impressive and pleasurable...the diverse ventriloquism of O'Connor's novel evokes a city in peril with wonderful vitality

A tale worth re-telling, adorned as it is by the brilliants of O'Connor's impressionistic writing

A powerful portrait of extraordinary courage

Precisely choreographed... We eagerly follow the characters through uncertainty and disappointment as well as high-stakes jeopardy. O'Connor is playing with the possibilities of multiple narrators, and thinking also about plurality, reliability and the historical record

Gripping...a hugely satisfying book, from its explosive opening to its bittersweet end

So beautifully written, a masterclass in 'voices' and an extremely tense thriller. It's magnificent.

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

For all its thrills...primarily-and triumphantly-an intimate drama that illuminates both the fragility and the wonder of unlikely human connections forged in adversity and, in some cases, enduring for a lifetime

I cannot say enough good things about this World War II thriller... Told from different perspectives of people in the movement, as well as the Gestapo villain, readers will hold their breath if the Choir will fulfill their critical mission. It's the first of a trilogy and a must read

O'Connor's work is hugely impressive and utterly haunting

Riveting, immersive, synesthetic, linguistically dazzling, funny and dark, this novel is blessed with a kind of magical grace. Sprezzatura springs from every page

O'Connor's writing is always intensely atmospheric...O'Connor succeeds in integrating into the suspenseful plot numerous narrative voices that intersect class, gender, nationality and religion

Gripping, compelling and utterly brilliant. O'Connor's gift for exquisite language shines through

Joseph O'Connor is a very great artist and storyteller

I was utterly engrossed from start to finish. The writing hums with energy. Such a gloriously vivid depiction of a Rome that is both familiar and altogether strange. And a powerful story of ordinary humans showing extraordinary bravery and tenacity. Bravo!

A gripping World War II-set drama featuring the unlikeliest of heroes, one whom the reader roots for every step of the way... O'Connor brings vividly to life a man who, despite his calling, stands up to be counted after witnessing Nazi atrocities... his desperate mission through the streets of Rome is brilliantly paced. It is hard not to be captivated by his presence throughout this hugely satisfying book, from its explosive opening to its bittersweet end.

Riveting...a storytelling tour de force. This is top-drawer WWII fiction

My Father's House is a powerful literary thriller from a master of historical fiction. Joseph O'Connor has created an unforgettable novel of love, faith and sacrifice, and what it means to be human in the most extreme circumstances

There are few living writers who can take us back in time so assuredly, with such sensual density, through such gorgeous sentences. Joseph O'Connor is a wonder

A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly - at times, astonishingly - a story of transience, loss and true loyalty

[A] true story... O'Connor's imagining of the characters' thoughts helps to bring them to life... This remains a tale worth retelling

A fine novelist, capable of remarkable feats of literary ventriloquism

O'Connor brings an impressive range of thrillerish techniques to his storytelling... [My Father's House is] vivid and atmospheric

Joseph O'Connor's new novel, My Father's House, is two things: a twisty thriller whose outcome is hard to guess; and an exquisitely rendered piece of literature from a masterful writer... Bravo

Powerful...one of Ireland's greatest living storytellers...gifting us a transportive quality that only the very best historical fiction can hope to achieve

Stylish, gripping, and inspiring...O'Connor is one of the most talented and respected writers of his generation

O'Connor combines suspenseful storytelling with an eye for quirky human details

Joseph O’Connor’s fiction has been published in forty languages. His twenty books include eleven novels, among them the million-selling Star of the Sea, Ghost Light, Shadowplay and My Father’s House, a Washington Post Book of the Year. His work has been shortlisted for the LA Times Book Award, twice for the Whitbread/Costa and twice for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and has won the Nielsen Bookscan Golden Book Award, France’s Prix Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi and Premio Napoli, an American Library Association Award, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award, the Hennessy Writer of the Year and Hall of Fame Awards, the Eason/An Post Novel of the Year Award, a Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library, the Irish Pen Award for Outstanding Achievement and the Prix Madeline Zepter for European Novel of the Year. He is Frank McCourt Chair of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. 
 
 
www.josephoconnorauthor.com

When the Nazis take Rome, thousands go into hiding. One priest will risk everything to save them. 
 
September 1943: Nazi forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping people escape. In his home in the Vatican - a neutral, independent country inside Rome - he gathers a team to set up an Escape Line. 
 
But Hauptmann's net begins closing in and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. By Christmas, it's too late to turn back. 
 
Based on a true story, My Father's House is a powerful thriller from a master of historical fiction. 
 
*THE NUMBER ONE IRISH BESTSELLER* 
 
'Breathtakingly good writing - O'Connor puts you right there, centre stage in the story and never lets you go' Peter James 
 
'O'Connor is on stellar form with this ensemble thriller...an expert storyteller' Daily Mail 
 
'A masterwork... so urgent, so incredibly alive... A searing and beautiful example of storytelling's infinite importance' Donal Ryan 
 
'Impressive and pleasurable...evokes a city in peril with wonderful vitality' Financial Times 
'A literary thriller of the highest order...his razor-sharp dialogue is to be savoured, and he employs dark humour to great effect. The plot twists keep on coming' Observer 
 
*THE GHOSTS OF ROME, the next gripping book in Joseph O&rsquo;Connor&rsquo;s THE ESCAPE LINE TRILOGY, is available to pre-order now! Out January 2025.* 
 
LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2024 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024

Shadowplay

A magnificent new novel from the bestselling author about Bram Stoker's intense relationships with the actors Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, while working together at the Lyceum Theatre, and the inspirations that led to the creation of Dracula.

Dazzling...the panache and subtlety of his prose perfectly match that gusto and creative finesse of the High Victorian world his novel wonderfully evokes

A novel I'd recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story... Delicious and clever late-Victorian gothic

An ingenious novel… O’Connor’s work is hugely impressive and utterly haunting

Joseph O’Connor is a very great artist and storyteller. The quotient of enjoyment in his extraordinary new novel is stupendous

A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly – at times, astonishingly – a story of transience, loss and true loyalty

A work of Gothic splendour...O'Connor's writing is always intensely atmospheric. As a romp through Ripper-ravaged London, Shadowplay is mightily entertaining. But as a meditation on hidden sexuality, it is powerful and poignant

A fabulous novel that tells the otherwise largely unknown story of the man behind Gothic horror's most enduring character… The narrative stretches decades, and throbs with theatrical vigour. This is writing at its most immersive, full of Dickensian pulchritude and pathos. It should, and might well, win prizes

A rollicking tale… an affecting depiction of artistic and social emancipation… O’Connor’s well-researched theatrical caper offers total immersion in a romantic, lost London... be nourished by a colourful tale of secret love and public performance

There are few living writers who can take us back in time so assuredly, with such sensual density, through such gorgeous sentences. Joseph O’Connor is a wonder, and Shadowplay is a triumph.

Peter Carey, twice winner of the Booker Prize

Gorgeously dark… Shadowplay is an accomplished, compelling read

A hugely entertaining and atmospheric novel, one can almost smell the greasepaint

A mesmerising read, meticulously researched, with beautiful prose...O'Connor has the gift of conjuring up any location....Wonderful suspense a la Wilkie Collins

This is a marvellous novel: at once freewheeling, exultant, fully inhabiting the momentary, transitory nature of its world; and intensely aware of the limitations – too frequently self-imposed – of our painfully fleeting lives.

Three famous Victorians carry this sparkling historical novel: Sir Henry Irving, the great actor-manager; Ellen Terry, his leading lady; and Bram Stoker, the young Irishman who worked for Irving as a theatre manager before writing Dracula. From their entangled lives Joseph O’Connor weaves a story of love and loyalty, rich in wit and imagination.

In gorgeous sentences, Joseph O’Connor captures the essence of three very different artistic temperaments in all their nobility and glorious absurdity

Joseph O'Connor is the only writer I know who can make you laugh and cry in the same sentence.

A virtuoso act of literary ventriloquism. Shadowplay is funny, smart, tender, wise and written with inch-perfect precision

A thrilling novel, exquisitely contrived to show the characters whose loves and lives inspired Dracula. A great tribute, and a work of art. Deeply affecting.

As fascinating and memorable as anything O'Connor has done. The writing, too, as thrilling as ever. A great writer performing Olympian literary storytelling.

O’Connor is a true master of historical fiction, able to illuminate a bygone age with skill, wit and imagination

A lushly enjoyable pastiche of fin-de-siècle prose, in which Victorian euphemism is an authenticating stamp that double as a source of humour

A luminous and masterly depiction of Bram Stoker’s time at the Lyceum, this wonderful book explores the complex nature of love and creativity. Utterly captivating.

Beautifully written. O’Connor creates a vivid and vigorous world of his own

Beautifully written and gorgeously atmospheric

A vividly written and atmospheric meditation on the creative process

O’Connor is masterly at evoking the late Victorian era; its train journeys, street scenes, formality and banter… O’Connor is masterly at evoking the late Victorian era; its train journeys, street scenes, formality and banter

Joseph O'Connor has written an entertaining novel that combines narrative with transcripts of recordings, diary entries and other notes. It steeps viewers in the theatre of Irving and Terry in the late 1870s and beyond, providing much informative colour at the same time as delving deeply and frankly into a series of relationships that are generally convincing.

O’Connor tells his story in rich and stylish prose

Joseph O’Connor’s vivid descriptive writing evokes Stoker’s memories of the post-famine Ireland of his youth and of Irving’s company’s fraught tours of America… [his] fine writing, his wit and sympathy create a richly enjoyable backdrop for some familiar characters

Enthralling… Brings to teeming life the London of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras

Brilliant... alternately deeply moving and laugh-aloud funny

O'Connor's gift is to weave whimsical moments in between the complexity of relationships and people... a beautiful story

An ambitious celebration of friendship, theatre and the power of darkness, Shadowplay is chilling and dramatic in equal measure

A wonderfully evocative tale within a tale

A thrilling novel, exquisitely contrived to show the characters whose loves and lives inspired Dracula. A great tribute, and a work of art. Deeply affecting.

Discover the enthralling Richard & Judy Book Club pick from international bestseller Joseph O'Connor. 
 
'The best novel that I've read in the last twenty years... It's fantastic' RICHARD MADELEY 
 
'Breathtaking... A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love' Sadie Jones, Guardian 
__________ 
 
London, 1878. Three extraordinary people begin their life together - and the idea for Dracula is born. 
 
Fresh from life in Dublin, Bram Stoker - now manager of the Lyceum Theatre - is wrestling with dark demons in a new city, in a new marriage, and with his own literary aspirations. As he walks the streets at night, streets haunted by the Ripper and the gossip which swirls around his friend Oscar Wilde, he finds new inspiration. Soon, the eerie tale of Dracula begins to emerge. 
 
But Henry Irving, volcanic leading man and impresario, is determined that nothing will get in the way of Bram's dedication to the Lyceum. And both men are growing ever more enchanted by the beauty and boldness of Ellen Terry, the most celebrated actress of her generation. 
__________ 
 
Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2019 
Winner of the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year 
 
'A colourful tale of secret love and public performance...in a romantic, lost London' The Times 
 
'Hugely entertaining and atmospheric' DEBORAH MOGGACH 
 
'Extraordinary' SEBASTIAN BARRY 
 
'A novel I'd recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story' James Naughtie, Radio Times 
 
'Fabulous... A truly great book you simply cannot put down' JUDY FINNIGAN 
 
'Rich, sad, funny, and a beautiful read. You'll LOVE it' RICHARD MADELEY 
 
'Ingenious...hugely impressive and utterly haunting' Sunday Mirror 
 
 
*JOSEPH O'CONNOR'S STUNNING NEW NOVEL, MY FATHER'S HOUSE, IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW*

Redemption Falls

Joseph O'Connor's sequel to his international bestseller, Star of the Sea. Reissued in a new series look to coincide with the publication of his new novel, Shadowplay

The words 'A Masterpiece' are too often bandied around in reviews, but they should be this novel's subtitle

A novel of vaulting ambition. O'Connor's finest work to date

This book consolidates and deepens O'Connor's stature as a major novelist

Redemption Falls is a major work of modern fiction from an astonishingly accomplished writer

Broad and ambitious...beautifully written...at the heart of O'Connor's masterful epic lies a universal hope for something better

A superb novel... Brilliant work... A lively and exquisitely phrased epic

Thomas Keneally, Author of "Schindler's Ark"

A huge achievement, as deep as it is wide, this is a book like no other of these times

Redemption Falls is trauma incarnate, but its effect is both compassionate and luminous

Books of this quality demand to be reread to reveal more of their complexities and layers of meaning. Redemption Falls would reward this on the level of its rich textures of language alone

'Broad and ambitious...beautifully written...at the heart of O'Connor's masterful epic lies a universal hope for something better' Observer 
 
Discover the powerful sequel to international bestseller Star of the Sea 
 
 
1865. The American Civil War is ending, but for Eliza Duane Mooney her journey across a devastated America has only just begun. 
 
Eliza is searching for her younger brother she has not seen in four years, one of the hundred thousand children drawn into the war. His fate has been mysterious and will prove extraordinary. 
 
It's a walk that will have consequences for many seemingly unconnected survivors: a love-struck cartographer, a haunted Latina poetess, rebel guerrilla Cole McLaurenson, runaway slave Elizabeth Longstreet and the mercurial revolutionary James Con O'Keeffe, who commanded a brigade of Irish immigrants in the Union Army and is now Governor of a western wilderness where nothing is as it seems.

From the Sunday Times Bestselling author of Star of the Sea

Ghost Light

A powerful and deeply moving masterpiece about love, partings and reconciliation. Reissued in a new series look to coincide with the publication of his new novel, Shadowplay

'A virtuoso display of literary talent...brimming with sympathy and skill' Irish Times 
 
Dublin, 1907. A young actress begins an affair with a damaged older man, the leading playwright at the theatre where she works. 
 
Outspoken and flirtatious, Molly Allgood is a Catholic girl from the slums of Dublin, dreaming of stardom in America. Her lover, John Synge, is a troubled genius, whose life is hampered by convention and by the austere and God-fearing mother with whom he lives. Their affair, sternly opposed by friends and family, is quarrelsome, affectionate, and tender. 
 
Many years later, Molly, now a poverty-stricken old woman, makes her way through London's bomb-scarred city streets, alone but for a snowdrift of memories. Her once dazzling career has faded but her unquenchable passion for life has kept her afloat. 
 
'Masterful in its management of re-imagined lives and the time they inhabit' Financial Times

Throughout a complex structure with shifting timeframes, O'Connor's writing is compellingly beautiful and Molly is marvelously drawn. A captivating read

Joseph O'Connor is one of the most exciting novelists of his generation

A superbly written, magically evocative novel

A virtuoso display of literary talent...brimming with sympathy and skill

Ghost Light...has an astonishing command of voice and period detail, and offers an intimacy with the lives of others which is rare in fiction

Star of the Sea

Joseph O'Connor's monumental bestseller reissued in a new series look to coincide with the publication of his new novel, Shadowplay

In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by injustice and natural disaster, the Star of the Sea sets sail for New York. 
 
On board are hundreds of fleeing refugees. Among them are a maidservant with a devastating secret, bankrupt Lord Merridith and his family, an aspiring novelist and a maker of revolutionary ballads, all braving the Atlantic in search of a new home. Each is connected more deeply than they can possibly know. 
 
But a camouflaged killer is stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution. 
 
**A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK SINCE 2000** 
 
'A triumph...A spectacular breakthrough' Sunday Times 
 
'Ireland's most brilliant storyteller' Independent on Sunday 
 
JOSEPH O'CONNOR'S STUNNING NEW NOVEL, MY FATHER'S HOUSE, IS AVAILABLE NOW

A page-turner of a masterpiece. Don't miss it

A triumph...A spectacular breakthrough...it raises the bar for contemporary Irish fiction

A terrific story... A stealthily gripping narrative

This is Joseph O'Connor's best book. It is shocking, hilarious, beautifully written, and very, very clever

His most substantial and impressive novel to date. Sad and funny, Star of the Sea tacks and veers in surprising directions, but follows a subtly plotted course to its final satisfying landfall

A masterful storyteller... A thrilling tale...O'Connor writes with nothing less than incandescent passion... Unfailingly gripping

A modern masterpiece... The language is absolutely gorgeous

There is so much that is memorable in the Star of the Sea... Grounded upon well researched, vivid, unprejudiced empathy

Sensitive, thoughtful and rich with the spoils of its author's plunder of the past

This is a tremendous book: affecting, intelligent, ironic, humane and utterly convincing. It is also extremely funny

* Over a million copies sold * 
 
Rediscover Joseph O'Connor's monumental #1 international bestseller. 
 
In the bitter winter of 1847, from an Ireland torn by injustice and natural disaster, the Star of the Sea sets sail for New York. 
 
On board are hundreds of fleeing refugees. Among them are a maidservant with a devastating secret, bankrupt Lord Merridith and his family, an aspiring novelist and a maker of revolutionary ballads, all braving the Atlantic in search of a new home. Each is connected more deeply than they can possibly know. 
 
But a camouflaged killer is stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution. 
 
A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK SINCE 2000 
 
'A triumph...A spectacular breakthrough' Sunday Times 
 
'Ireland's most brilliant storyteller' Independent on Sunday 
 
JOSEPH O'CONNOR'S STUNNING NEW NOVEL, MY FATHER'S HOUSE, IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW

The Thrill of it All

A captivating novel filled with music, friendship and teenage dreams, from the bestselling author of Ghost Light and Star of the Sea

Joseph O'Connor's The Thrill of it All uses layered narrative textures with both serious skill and engaging lightness so that the core drama emerges with clarity and wit.

Occasionally, you read a sentence that you know couldn't be bettered: Joseph O'Connor's new novel is jam-packed with such sentences – paragraph after paragraph of brilliance

O'Connor at his playful and narrative best… shot through with electricity, packed with sentences that send you spinning, full of joy and sadness and swerve. This was a book to make my tired heart soar.  Of all the Irish writers working today, Joe O'Connor speaks better than anyone of what is genuine, what is necessary, and what is ennobling.  A thrill indeed.

Colum McCann, winner of the US National Book Award and the Impac Award

[O’Connor] is warm without being sentimental, and he cuts effortlessly between comedy and tragedy. Music nerds will love the most satisfyingly voluminous playlists since High Fidelity

A novel about music, family and friendship...O'Connor brilliantly evokes the 1980s... This novel is shot through with humour, patois and all the human contradictions that make the characters truly memorable.

Intoxicating...a love letter to rock 'n' roll...incredibly moving

O'Connor writes with such passion, such precision, such beautiful sentences, with such an ear for language and with such knowledge and hilarity, that this book could only come from an extremely gifted Rock'n'Roll obsessive... A brilliant and vital document

Hugely entertaining. A vivid joy. He's a master...Deftly and tenderly drawn...for friends and family, and always and forever, for music...That feeling has rarely been captured as exhilaratingly, and as vividly, as in The Thrill of it All

[A] brilliantly conceived and touching novel... You don’t have to be a music fan to love it

This is a book for anyone who has ever dreamt of being a rock star

It's so crafted that you end up wishing they were real, and proves that fictional musicians can be written well. As it fast-forwards to the present day, showing how time changes things, it's easy for the reader to be drawn into tales of teenage dreams, friendship and a real love of music

In a beguiling mix of memory, interviews, lyrics and diary entries, O'Connor constructs his personal, distinctly loving, laughing pseudo-memoir that rewinds us romantically to the music and mindset of the way we were then and fast forwards to the rueful way we are now. Pure pleasure

An evocative and vibrant, poignant and witty tale… [A] brilliant, moving novel

A touching and beautifully drawn portrait of a group of people who essentially become a new sort of family

O’Connor’s story is characteristically well-crafted and his playfully inventive use of language is evident throughout… A nostalgic story about friendship and the enduring importance of music in people’s lives.

Rewinds and fast-forwards through an evocative soundtrack of struggle and laughter

He’s done it again… Has everything a holiday read should have – life, love and rock and roll

How do you explain what a fictional band sounds like? O’Connor does it exquisitely by letting us listen to the music of Robbie’s insecurities, his inability to see his own importance, and his all-consuming love for Fran… A novel to be savoured, with its beautiful, laugh-out-loud bickering between [the characters], its melancholic sweetness and the sky wisdom that penetrates its pages, and the feeling it gives that, despite not hearing a sound, you have just come out of an amazing concert of all your favourite songs

Has an eye, and ear, for music culture that few of even the best rock journalists can match

I’ve seen some reviews bill The Thrill of it All as being a book for anyone who’s dreamt of being a rock star, but I’d say it’s appeal is far wider than that: it’s for anyone who loves music — blues, ska, New Wave, punk and rock especially

Humour and poignancy are woven into the fabric of this warm, well-crafted novel, all the way to its cathartic conclusion

a warm-hearted, funny and moving novel for anyone that’s ever loved a song

Some of the funniest, most tender moments are the exchanges between Robbie, the rebellious son, and his staid but loving father, Jim...less a tale of pop dissolution than of family

At college in 1980s Luton, Robbie Goulding, an Irish-born teenager, meets the elusive Fran Mulvey, an orphaned Vietnamese refugee. Together they form a band. Joined by cellist Sarah-Thérèse Sherlock and her twin brother Seán on drums, The Ships in the Night set out to chase fame. But the story of this makeshift family is haunted by ghosts from the past. 
 
Spanning 25 years, The Thrill of it All rewinds and fast-forwards through an evocative soundtrack of struggle and laughter. Infused with blues, ska, classic showtunes, New Wave and punk, using interviews, lyrics, memoirs and diaries, the tale stretches from suburban England to Manhattan’s East Village, from Thatcher-era London to the Hollywood Bowl, from the meadows of the Glastonbury Festival to a wintry Long Island, culminating in a Dublin evening in July 2012, a night that changes everything. 
 
A story of loyalties, friendship, the call of the muse, and the beguiling shimmer of teenage dreams, this is a warm-hearted, funny and deeply moving novel for anyone that’s ever loved a song.

Joseph O'Connor

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

[A] vivid and moving story, with O’Connor seamlessly combining real characters with imagined ones

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

There is no finer writer of historical fiction than Joseph O’Connor. . . 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

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

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

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

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

A literary thriller of the highest order...his razor-sharp dialogue is to be savoured, and he employs dark humour to great effect. The plot twists keep on coming

A mesmerising, tragic, horrifying, utterly unputdownable story. . . A deeply affecting read with an ending that’s sad yet life affirming, this is an outstanding choice for fans of WWII fiction and of writers like Anthony Doerr

Gripping historical fiction from one of our finest writers

Panoramic. . . will have you turning the pages back to read them a second time

A stellar piece of storytelling. O'Connor brilliantly captures the sense of the city and its inhabitants in peril

Loved it. Absolutely superb. A masterful writer of historic fiction.

Humane, terrifying, raw, and beautiful, The Ghosts of Rome haunts and inspires the reader. That it feels even more immersive and gripping than My Father’s House is the highest of praise

'Thrilling, terrifying and entertaining in equal measure' Liz Nugent, Number One Bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond 
 
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. 
 
 
'As thrilling, beautiful and sensational a novel as you'll read this year or any year' Donal Ryan, Sunday Times 
 
'Vivid and moving' Guardian 
 
‘A stellar piece of storytelling’ Daily Mail 
 
'Not just a wartime thriller, but a meditation on how we remember, how we resist and how, even in the darkest times, humanity endures' New York Times 
 
'Excellent...rings so emotionally true and clear... The writing has the energy and tension of a thriller, yet the language is rich, visual and beautiful' Sunday Independent

Joseph O'Connor

Praise for The Ghosts Of Rome

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

[A] vivid and moving story, with O’Connor seamlessly combining real characters with imagined ones

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

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

[A] vivid and moving story, with O’Connor seamlessly combining real characters with imagined ones

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

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

[A] vivid and moving story, with O’Connor seamlessly combining real characters with imagined ones

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

Books by Joseph O'Connor

Series by Joseph O'Connor

Rome Escape Line

Articles featuring Joseph O'Connor

New historical fiction books to read in 2025

Mud, music, mayhem: the greatest festival scenes in books

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter