The City of Echoes

As World War II nears its end and Rome awaits liberation, the Choir must find a fortune in stolen Nazi money before it falls into the hands of their deadliest enemy. 

To be read and enjoyed as a standalone novel or as O’Connor’s final, magisterial book about the Rome Escape Line, The City of Echoes is superlative literature, as poetic and atmospheric as anything written about Rome, and a novel of suspense that will take readers’ breath away.  

May 1944. In the final days before Rome’s liberation from Nazi occupation, the Eternal City is in turmoil. As German forces prepare to retreat, Resistance fighters, spies, fugitives, collaborators and black marketeers battle for survival in a city gripped by fear, hunger and unbearable heat. 

At the heart of the chaos is the Choir, a clandestine network that has smuggled thousands to safety through the Vatican while defying the ruthless Gestapo commander, Paul Hauptmann. But the Escape Line is running out of money, its leadership is fracturing, and time is running short. When a fortune in stolen Nazi money vanishes into the hands of the notorious criminal known as Gesmas, the Choir is drawn into a deadly race across Rome. If the money can be recovered, it might sustain the Resistance in the city’s final frenetic days under Nazi occupation. If not, the consequences could be catastrophic. 

With these elements and aided by some of the most vivid characters in any recent work of fiction, Joseph O’Connor has penned a masterpiece of literary suspense and a truly unforgettable portrait of wartime Rome.