Picture: Domnick Walsh
A book inspired by the life and times of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who grew up in Killarney, has been shortlisted for the Irish Novel of the Year Award at Listowel Writers’ Week.
The Ghosts of Rome, penned by Joseph O’Connor, is the second of a series of three novels set in Rome in 1943 and 1944, at the time of the resistance to the German occupation of the city.
It is a fictional version of the Rome escape line set up and led by Monsignor O’Flaherty to help fugitives from fascism, including escaped Allied prisoners.
The cleric was the central protagonist of My Father’s House, the first book in the trilogy in which he meets and begins a friendship with a troubled young Italian war widow, Countess Giovanna Landini. In The Ghosts of Rome, Giovanna steps into the spotlight.
Other authors on the shortlist for the coveted award are Colm Tóibín (Long Island), Donal Ryan (Heart, Be At Peace), Christine Dwyer Hickey (Our London Lives) and Niall Williams (Time of the Child).
The winning author will receive a €20,000 prize, sponsored by Kerry Group, with €500 presented to the other four.
The winner will be announced at the opening night of the festival in the Listowel Arms Hotel on Wednesday, May 28.
This year’s adjudicators, acclaimed authors Carol Drinkwater and Paul McVeigh, reviewed over 48 submitted novels and carefully selected five outstanding titles that reflect the strength, imagination, and storytelling brilliance of contemporary Irish fiction.
Ned O’Sullivan, Chairperson of the Board of Listowel Writers’ Week, said: “The Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award is a valued part of our festival’s celebration of Irish writing. We are sincerely thankful to Kerry Group for their continued and generous support”.
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