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The Secret Scripture (Paperback)

by Sebastian Barry (Author) "The world begins anew with every birth, my father used to say ..." (more)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product Details

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Penguin Paperbacks (April 28 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0143115693
ISBN-13: 978-0143115694
Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 2 cm
Shipping Weight: 227 g

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #7,358 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category:
#37 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Authors

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

The latest from Barry (whose A Long Way was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker) pits two contradictory narratives against each other in an attempt to solve the mystery of a 100-year-old mental patient. That patient, Roseanne McNulty, decides to undertake an autobiography and writes of an ill-fated childhood spent with her father, Joe Clear. A cemetery superintendent, Joe is drawn into Ireland's 1922 civil war when a group of irregulars brings a slain comrade to the cemetery and are discovered by a division of Free-Staters. Meanwhile, Roseanne's psychiatrist, Dr. Grene, investigating Roseanne's original commitment in preparation for her transfer to a new hospital, discovers through the papers of the local parish priest, Fr. Gaunt, that Roseanne's father was actually a police sergeant in the Royal Irish Constabulary. The mysteries multiply when Roseanne reveals that Fr. Gaunt annulled her marriage after glimpsing her in the company of another man; Gaunt's official charge was nymphomania, and the cumulative fallout led to a string of tragedies. Written in captivating, lyrical prose, Barry's novel is both a sparkling literary puzzle and a stark cautionary tale of corrupted power. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

As a young woman, Roseanne McNulty was one of the most beautiful and beguiling girls in County Sligo, Ireland. Now, as her hundredth year draws near, she is a patient at Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital, and she decides to record the events of her life.

As Roseanne revisits her past, hiding the manuscript beneath the floorboards in her bedroom, she learns that Roscommon Hospital will be closed in a few months and that her caregiver, Dr. Grene, has been asked to evaluate the patients and decide if they can return to society. Roseanne is of particular interest to Dr. Grene, and as he researches her case he discovers a document written by a local priest that tells a very different story of Roseanne’s life than what she recalls. As doctor and patient attempt to understand each other, they begin to uncover long-buried secrets about themselves.

Set against an Ireland besieged by conflict, The Secret Scripture is an epic story of love, betrayal, and unavoidable tragedy, and a vivid reminder of the stranglehold that the Catholic Church had on individual lives for much of the twentieth century.

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The world begins anew with every birth, my father used to say. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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5.0 out of 5 stars Redemption of a Sad and Bitter Life, Mar 17 2009

By	Ian Gordon Malcomson (Smithers, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Secret Scripture (Hardcover)

This is one of the better modern Irish novels I've read in a long time. Sebatian Barry has created a deeply disturbing story about the long and unhappy life of a centenarian named Roseanne McNulty as she lives out her dying days in a Roscommon asylum, the Leitrim Hotel. Her sad, mysterious life has been one of being misunderstood, mistreated, and neglected. Once a very pretty colleen growing up in the Sligo area, Roseanne's life takes some very tragic and unexpected twists and turns throughout the twentieth century. As the daughter of a former Royal Irish Constabulary policeman and a deranged mother, Roseanne gets drawn into a very unfortunate and unhappy set of circumstances that she has no control over. Ireland is about to become independent; the Irish Catholic Church is bent on re-inforcing its authority throughout the state; and local prejudices and superstitions still carry the day. The truth of her story only comes out around her 100th birthday when the director of the asylum, Dr. Grene, does a psychological assessment of her in preparation for releasing her before the old building is demolished. In the space of a number of weeks, Dr. Grene, a very troubled man himself, holds a series of conversations with Roseanne as to the nature of her story. For a while there are two versions of events going on, as Grene and Roseanne regale each other with what they know about the past. Grene's is one obtained by checking out local and national sources, while Roseanne's is one of a selective memory of a wide range of personal hurts and indignities. Using the techniques of psychoanalysis, Grene leads Roseanne to see the bigger picture of her life: the swirl of events that make her less an author of her own terrible misfortune and more the unfortunate, hapless victim of circumstances. By the end of the novel, the issues of guilt that have burdened this woman for close to a century have been removed because two people got together to effect each other's emotional and spiritual healing. Barry writes with conviction and purpose. The old Ireland, bound by servitude to the Church and tradition, comes alive in this story as it battles to hold its own against the forces of modernism and political change.

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