The Ghosts of Rome
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.
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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.
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O’Connor paints a lively picture of a city filled with Fascist police and German soldiers ... A riveting thriller.
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