Photo credit: Urszula Soltys
Joseph O’Connor
Agent: Isobel Dixon
Assistant: Sian Ellis-Martin
Biography: Joseph O’Connor was born in Dublin. His books include the novels COWBOYS AND INDIANS (Whitbread Prize shortlist), DESPERADOES, THE SALESMAN, SHADOWPLAY and most recently, MY FATHER’S HOUSE. He has also published biography, short stories and has written several successful plays. He is the inaugural Frank McCourt Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.
GHOST LIGHT was chosen as Dublin’s ‘One City, One Book’ for April 2011, designed to encourage everyone in the city to read the same book.
STAR OF THE SEA received international acclaim. A number one bestseller in Britain and Ireland, it won the Prix Littéraire Européen Madeleine Zepter for European Novel of the Year, the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune ‘Hall of Fame’ Award, Italy’s Premio Giuseppe Acerbi for New Literature, France's Prix Millepages for Foreign Fiction, and was included on the New York Public Library's prestigious annual ‘Books to Remember’ list, for works deemed by a panel of critics to be of literary excellence. It was a ‘New York Times Notable Book of the Year’, runner-up in the readers’ poll for ‘Best Read of 2004’ on British television’s Richard and Judy Book Club, and nominated for the International IMPAC Literary Award. Published in dozens of languages, it was the highest selling novel of 2004 in the UK.
The first book in the Rome Escape Line trilogy, MY FATHER’S HOUSE, was published by Harvill Secker in the UK and Europa Editions in the US in January 2023. The second book in the trilogy, THE GHOSTS OF ROME, will be published in early 2025.
‘As I read, I found myself going more and more slowly, because I didn’t want to miss a single sentence. I found myself calling friends and reading passages aloud to them over the phone. This is a rare experience indeed. It is a rare and wonderful book.’ – Michael Cunningham, author of THE HOURS
‘A brilliant novel.’ – Joseph O'Neill, author of NETHERLAND
‘O’Connor writes with such passion, such precision, such beautiful sentences, with such an ear for language.’ – Bob Geldof
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THE GHOSTS OF ROME
Literary fiction, 256 pages
Harvill Secker, January 2025
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.
MY FATHER’S HOUSE
Literary fiction, 288 pages, Harvill Secker, 2023
September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. The war's outcome is far from certain.
An Irish priest, Hugh O'Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, the world's smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. Here Hugh brings together an unlikely band of friends to hide the vulnerable under the noses of the enemy.
But Hauptmann's net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. By Christmastime, it's too late to turn back.
Based on an extraordinary true story, 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 truly human in the most extreme circumstances.
SHADOWPLAY
Literary fiction, 320 pages
Harvill Secker, June 2019
1878: The Lyceum Theatre, London. Three extraordinary people begin their life together, a life that will be full of drama, transformation, passionate and painful devotion to art and to one another. Henry Irving, the Chief, is the volcanic leading man and impresario; Ellen Terry is the most lauded and desired actress of her generation, outspoken and generous of heart; and ever following along behind them in the shadows is the unremarkable theatre manager, Bram Stoker.
Fresh from life in Dublin as a clerk, Bram may seem the least colourful of the trio but he is wrestling with dark demons in a new city, in a new marriage, and with his own literary aspirations. As he walks the London streets at night, streets haunted by the Ripper and the gossip which swirls around his friend Oscar Wilde, he finds new inspiration. But the Chief is determined that nothing will get in the way of his manager’s devotion to the Lyceum and to himself. And both men are enchanted by the beauty and boldness of the elusive Ellen.
This exceptional novel explores the complexities of love that stands dangerously outside social convention, the restlessness of creativity, and the experiences that led to Dracula, the most iconic supernatural tale of all time.
STAR OF THE SEA
Literary fiction, 432 pages
Vintage, January 2004
1847, from Ireland torn by injustice and natural disaster, Star of the Sea sets sail for New York. On board are hundreds of fleeing refugees, some brimming with optimism, many desperate, all braving the Atlantic in search of a new home. But a camouflaged killer is stalking the decks, hungry for the vengeance that will bring absolution. A novel as urgently contemporary as it is historically revealing, it builds with the pace of a thriller to an unforgettable conclusion.