The power of The Ghosts of Rome comes from the dazzling variety of voices employed, the sense of a world constructed in multiple dimensions. The contemporaneous narratives are related in an urgent present tense, with breathless sentences, single-line paragraphs ... By crafting a chorus of voices, he ensures that no single narrative dominates, reflecting the messy, multifaceted truths of history — both the way it is lived and how it is constructed in retrospect. What emerges is not just a wartime thriller, though it is that, but a meditation on how we remember, how we resist and how, even in the darkest times, humanity endures.
A literary sequel worth its salt should satisfy two types of readers: those who read the first installment and those who didn’t. Joseph O’Connor’s new novel is one such book ... The narrative comprises a vivid patchwork of varied voices and diverse texts, from letters to memoir extracts to interview transcripts to Gestapo reports ... Expertly rendered ... Richly atmospheric and pulsing with excitement.
An underestimated element of any novel is something we don’t really have a word for. We might try “atmosphere” or “the world” an author creates that we are compelled to inhabit, even when it’s a world of darkness. The fantasy novel gives that great attention, but it matters in all fiction, never more than historical fiction. O’Connor’s prose creates an extraordinary picture of Rome under Nazi control ... Elegiac tone.
It’s a mesmerising, tragic, horrifying, utterly unputdownable story of the small, motley, incredibly brave band of eight people who call themselves the Choir ... 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.
