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The 2010 Award

 

The Secret Scripture

The secret scripture

The Secret Scripture

by Sebastian Barry

 

 

 

 

Nominated by:

  • Mestska Knihovna v Praze / Municipal Library of Prague, Czech Republic
  • Dublin City Public Libraries, Ireland
  • Liverpool Libraries & Information Services, England
  • Birmingham Libraries, England
  • Boston Public Library, USA
  • San Diego Public Library, USA
  • Miami-Dade Public Library System, USA
  • The Free State Provincial Library Service, Bloemfontein, South Africa

 

Publisher of Nominated Edition:


Faber & Faber, England

Viking Penguin, USA

 
the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors
ABOUT THE BOOK

Roseanne McNulty, perhaps nearing her one-hundredth birthday - no one is quite sure - faces an uncertain future, as the Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital where she's spent the best part of her adult life prepares for closure. Over the weeks leading up to this upheaval, she talks often with her psychiatrist Dr Grene. This relationship, guarded but trusting after so many years, intensifies and complicates as Dr Grene mourns the death of his wife.

Told through their respective journals, the story that emerges - of Roseanne's family in 1930s Sligo - is at once shocking and deeply beautiful. Refracted through the haze of memory and retelling, Roseanne's story becomes an alternative, secret, history of Ireland. Exquisitely written, it is the story of a life blighted by terrible mistreatment and ignorance, and yet marked still by love and passion and hope.

(From Publisher).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. His play, The Steward of Christendom, first produced in 1995, won many awards and has been seen around the world. His novel, The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, appeared in 1998. He lives in Wicklow with his wife and three children.

LIBRARIANS' COMMENTS

A tender and touching book telling the story of a long term patient in a mental hospital through her own eyes and those of her psychiatrist. An absorbing and beautifully written tale.

Description of Barry’s language as “unique” and “magnificent” are well deserved. This novel is rich with psychological understanding and a skilful conjuring of time and place.

It is moving and beautifully written.

A lyrical and thought provoking work. The Secret Scripture provides us with a glimpse into the life of a 99-year-old Roseanne Mc Nulty in northwest Ireland in the mid-twentieth century. Her history mirrors the story of Ireland and is an unforgettable story of love, power, tragedy and redemption.

Through the memoirs and writings of the lives of two very different people set against the background of the turbulent history of Ireland in the 20th Century, Mr. Barry beautifully conveys the sense of unreliability of history, both personal and national.

Secrets and truths, love and tragedy both catholic and particular, composed in language of dazzling clarity.

 

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