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SUNDAY TIMES
FEBRUARY 1944. SIX MONTHS SINCE NAZI FORCES OCCUPIED ROME. Inside the war-torn city, the Contessa Giovanna Landini works for the band of Escape Line activists known as ‘the Choir’. Her mission is to smuggle Allied soldiers to safety, 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.
‘Thrilling, terrifying and entertaining’ LIZ NUGENT
‘A stellar piece of storytelling’ DAILY MAIL
‘Not just a wartime thriller, but a meditation on how we remember, how we resist and how, even in the darkest times, humanity endures’ NEW YORK TIMES
THE GHOSTS OF ROME JOSEPH O’CONNOR
R.
‘As thrilling, beautiful and sensational a novel as you’ll read this year or any year’
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
JOSEPH O’CONNOR
THE GHOSTS OF ROME
‘THRILLING’
‘SENSATIONAL’ Sunday Times
Liz Nugent
‘VIVID AND MOVING’ Guardian
‘EXCELLENT’
Sunday Independent
Cover photographs: (front) courtesy of Getty Images, (back) courtesy of Alamy
VINTAGE £9.99
Penguin Random House penguin.co.uk/vintage
GOR PB AW.indd 1-3
I S B N 978-1-529-96702-9
9
781529 967029
90000
In a city under siege, no one can be trusted
05/11/2025 12:50