"My Father's House," by Joseph O'Connor. (Dreamscape, unabridged, 11¼ hours)
O'Connor's beautifully written, suspenseful novel is based on the exploits of the Irish priest Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, who ran an escape line during the Nazi occupation of Rome for Jews, resistance fighters and escaped Allied prisoners. Most were hidden away in Vatican City, a neutral territory that came under threat of German occupation.
Assisting him was a motley group of brave men and women whom he calls the "choir." Their much-fictionalized selves are presented here in the voices of several talented actors who narrate the chapters in sequence (not ensemble) to produce persuasive sound portraits of their characters. The Irish parts — that of O'Flaherty, Delia Kiernan (wife of an Irish diplomat) and the guiding narrator — are delivered by Irish actors Barry Barnes, Aoife Duffin and Stephen Hogan, respectively.
The other choristers are given voice by David John, Thomas Hill, Roberto Davide, Barnaby Edwards, Gertrude Toma and Laurence Bouvard. This is the first volume of a proposed trilogy, though it is hard to see where it will go from this novel's highly satisfying conclusion.
"Age of Vice," by Deepti Kapoor. (Penguin Audio, unabridged, 19½ hours)
This extravagant peregrination of a novel wanders back and forth through three decades of cruelty, violence, corruption, blackmail, debauchery and lust for revenge. Tangled up in its ever-proliferating story lines is Ajay, born in Uttar Pradesh to a low-caste family ruined by members of a thuggish, all-powerful family.
Ajay, who was sold into slavery when he was 8, eventually becomes the servant and fixer in Delhi for Sunny Wadia, a neoliberal fantasist, property developer and dissipated scion of yet another powerful criminal family. Also at large is Neda Kapur, an idealistic journalist who has an on-again, off-again affair with Sunny.
Vidish Athavale narrates the book in a young, versatile voice, slightly inflected with an Indian accent. He moves smoothly from character to character, bringing out their personalities and moods: subservient Ajay turning privately vengeful; imperious Sunny made spineless by his tyrannical father; anguished Neda in the face of a brutal slum clearance. This is a masterly performance of what is promised to be the first volume of a trilogy.
