LEO'S WAR
by Patricia Murphy
Poolberg Press
Middle Grade Historical
405 pages
ages 9 and up
It's 1943 and young Leo tries to protect his disabled sister Ruby as the Nazis invade Italy. After his mother is arrested, he turns to Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty to save them. But he is no ordinary priest. Known as 'The Pimpernel of the Vatican', he is the legendary organiser of the Rome Escape Line. Soon Leo is helping out with the secret network dedicated to saving lives of escaped prisoners. Bust as the sinister Nazi leader Kappler closes in, can Leo stay out of his evil clutches?
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SNEAK PEEK
In
this extract from Chapter 11, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty and 12 year old Leo
visit the Palazzo of Prince Filippo
Doria Pamphilj, a well known Anti-Fascist to collect funds to help the Rome
Escape Line. After admiring the astonishing picture galleries on the first
floor, the visit is interrupted by a Nazi raid led by the Nazi commander
Kappler.
The
incident was based on a real story about the exploits of the Monsignor who was
known as the “Pimpernel of the Vatican” after the story of the English count in
the French Revolution. The Monsignor was famous for this ingenuity and his
disguises. Kappler had an obsession with capturing the Monsignor who
consistently outwitted him and this was only one of many attempts.
*****
“It’s Kappler! He’s here with troops to storm
the palazzo! We’d better hide!”
I
peeked out a window. The Nazis had blocked off the street and stormtroopers
were fast approaching. Across the piazza I could see Kappler in a leather coat
getting out of his car. And it was the very man we had seen on the road to
Rome. I knew by the cut of him. Angry, cold, precise even at this distance.
“Go
and stall them at the door,” the Prince instructed his secretary. “Hugh, I urge
you to hand yourself in. They might shoot you if they think you are resisting
arrest. The game’s up.”
“If
they don’t find me and the money, they have no proof of anything. I’m away!”
Hugh
was already across the room, his hand on the doorknob. He had grabbed his
rucksack and stuffed the cash into one of the inner pockets in his cassock.
“I’ll
make a run for it. Or hide in one of your thousand rooms. Leo, stay with the
Prince!”
But
I was having none of it and was on his tail. He shrugged and let me follow him.
We
ran blindly down a corridor, away from the front door. There was a short flight
of stairs leading to the cellars. Hugh stopped for a moment and ran down the
stairs with me close behind him.
Down
in the bowels of the house, the cellars were cold and musty. We heard a strange
rushing noise from one cellar and looked in. Coal was pouring down a chute, a
rumbling black waterfall.
Hugh
and I ran in. I wondered if he was thinking of hiding in the coal. The acrid
dust was already hitting the back of my throat and making my eyes sting.
“They’re
getting ready for the winter delivery,” Hugh whispered to me. “And where
there’s coal, there are coalmen.”
There
was a break in the coal pouring in. Hugh risked a look up through the trapdoor.
Two
grimy coalmen were above us, worriedly watching something – no doubt the SS
men. Then they moved away.
Hugh climbed up the mound of coal and grabbed a coal sack from a pile at
the top of the chute. The coalmen had turned away I could see by the
mischievous look on his face that he’d had an idea. He took off his robe and
cassock and stripped down to his vest and trousers, stuffing the clothes in the
sack together with his rucksack. Then he smeared his face with coal and so did
I. I enjoyed that bit.
Just as one of the
coalmen was bending to throw in the next bag, Hugh called up, his voice little
more than a breath. “In
nomine Patris et Fillii et Spiritus Sancti.” In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The coalman started when he heard the sound coming from the cellar. He
looked like he’d seen a ghost! But his face softened, recognising the Monsignor.
“You’ll be doing God’s work if you let us through,” Hugh said softly in
Italian.
The coalman nodded and called to his companion. They whispered to each
other and then dropped down into the cellar. Without exchanging a word, Hugh
and I climbed up.
There was a line of SS men, grimly focused on blocking the side entrance
and other doorways. Hugh strode by them toward the coal lorry, carrying the bag
of “coal” on his back, the rucksacks hidden inside. I cursed myself as I
suddenly remembered my little diary hidden within, betraying my true feelings
about their filthy leader. I followed close behind him, my heart hammering so
hard I thought it would give me away. I had that strange feeling I get when I’m
nervous, like the whole world is frozen in time. The SS men barely glanced at
us. In fact, they backed off as if they were worried their uniforms would get
dirty. But there wasn’t the blackest coal that was as dirty as those SS men.
And here she is...
Patricia Murphy is the bestselling author of The
Easter Rising 1916 – Molly’s Diary and Dan’s Diary – the War of Independence
1920-22 published by Poolbeg.
She has also written the prize-winning “The
Chingles” trilogy of children’s Celtic fantasy novels. Patricia is also an award winning
Producer/Director of documentaries including Children of Helen House,
the BBC series on a children’s hospice and Born to Be Different Channel 4’s
flagship series following children born with disabilities. Many of her
groundbreaking programmes are about children’s rights and topics such as
growing up in care, crime and the criminal justice system. She has also made a
number of history programmes including Worst Jobs in History with Tony
Robinson for Channel 4 and has produced and directed films for the Open
University.
Patricia
grew up in Dublin and is a graduate in English and History from Trinity College
Dublin and of Journalism at Dublin City University. She now lives in Oxford
with her husband and young daughter.
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