Old Gods Time is an expression meaning a period beyond memory. In this novel an ex-police detective in rural Ireland, Tom Kettle, is approached to solve a cold case which reawakens recent family history. Tom recollects his wife June and family Winnie and Joe. His grief and love playing tricks on him as he reflects on the ‘sad stations’ of memory.

Throughout the novel Tom and the reader are unsure as to what is real. ‘He had the wild sense that despite the tyranny of dates and time, she was there, not in memory but really’.

The novel has a haunting, ethereal quality. The visiting policemen are given an ‘inky halo’, there is a ghostly girl and even the ‘sea wind [is] out of control, like a suicide or an executed thing’.

This is a beautifully crafted sorry of family and loss.

Thanks to Netgalley and Faber for a review copy.

In Old God’s Time, we walk alongside Tom Kettle, a retired Detective Garda. We stand beside him, while he works through how life has brought him to this point, and his musings of what is left for him, if anything, in a future.

Sebastian Barry’s writing takes us on a meandering, far from easy journey. A journey of Tom’s life, loves and losses, the happiness and sadness. It is a tale of loss, aging, of losing relevance in a world hellbent on modernisation and progress.

Through the lens of Tom’s recollections/flashbacks/imagination, not only do we see his own personal history, from childhood to retirement; we also live through some of Ireland’s troubling, uneasy history, interwoven through Tom’s own life. These subjects are not easy to talk and read of.
I appreciate trigger warnings are a big debate within reviewing circles, but I wouldn’t feel it fair to write this review without giving a trigger warning for child abuse by Catholic priests. I’m sorry if this is seen as a spoiler, but I think it’s right to mention it.

As a narrator, Tom is unreliable. The lines between fact and fiction, the present and past are constantly shifting in and out of focus. I’m currently still questioning what was genuine reality, and what was Tom’s reality.

The writing, and the story is harrowing, haunting, tragic in a lyrical stye. It is somehow beautiful, and distressing all at once.
Despite the author’s poetic writing, and Tom’s rose tinted lens of memory; the subject matter, and the far reaching brutal effects of those acts, cant’t be disguised.

A book to get lost in, the writing is beautiful. As Tom's past unfolds, alongside the investigation into an historical case, you are walking in his shoes. Not always comfortable ones. He lays bare the terrifying abuse that children were subjected to by clergy and the authorities efforts to ignore or cover it up. The descriptions of the surroundings are so vivid, you can picture yourself at the seaside where Tom lives. Left me with much to reflect on after reading, highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story, and was interested to see how the story developed.

Newly retired from the Irish police force Tom Kettle lives with a certain truth which he has kept carefully hidden. Alone and isolated in his small apartment annexed on the edge of an Irish castle, Tom looks across at the grey Irish sea and remembers snippets of his life, memories which are as painful to forget as they are to remember.

The story is beautifully written with a starkness to the narrative which belies its strength and although painful to read it is eerily compulsive, especially as Tom Kettle's stream of consciousness brings to the fore everything he has tried so hard to forget. I read it quickly, immersed in Tom's story and its dreadful reminder of Ireland's painful Catholic past, with the sins of the religious fathers lying heavily on those who were the victims of abuse and shame.

Old God's Time is a haunting and rather melancholic story and Tom Kettle is a character who will stay with me for quite a while.

Sebastian Barry's latest novel "Old God's Time", is an evocative tale about a retired police detective, Tom Kettle, and is set in the outskirts of Dublin in the 1990's. He unexpectedly receives a visit from two young policemen who want his advice regarding a cold case that unnerves him as it concerns allegations of child abuse perpetrated by the clergy. Tom, himself had first hand knowledge of clerical abuse as he had been raised by the Christian Brothers in an orphanage where abuse was a daily occurrence. His beloved late wife June was also a victim, having been raped by a priest from the age of six. The visit stirs up memories for Kettle that he had supressed about how when he investigated the case originally and was convinced of the guilt of the accused priest, his superiors shut it down.
This novel is Tom's life story, it's raw and gritty, where love abounds but is never quite enough. Sebastian Barry is a wonderful writer, every word is carefully crafted and this beautiful, sad, and oftentimes shocking book, his ninth novel, will stay with you long after you read the final page.

Old God’s Time is a roller coaster of a novel; a difficult read sprinkled with humour. Tom is a retired police officer whose slightly confused mind enjoys reflecting on memories of his beloved late wife June, and their children. When two police officers arrive to ask him about a cold case he worked on, more memories are brought to the surface.
This is a slow paced book where the main storyline unravels alongside Tom’s past and related personal experiences. It broaches difficult topics in a sensitive way and I was left reflecting on it long after finishing the last page.

*A big thank-you to Sebastian Barry, Faber and Faber, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
Absolutely beautifully written, gripping and haunting novel of love gained and lost. I was shaken to the core as the story of Tom Kettle's life was gradually revealed and the roots of his pain and loneliness unearthed.

(spoiler-free review) At a glance, this novel seems to tread in the footsteps of a current favourite of UK TV drama – that of a police procedural investigation of a cold case from decades ago. But this initial impression is rapidly dispelled. We find retired police sergeant, Tom Kettle, alone in his rented flat, endeavouring to keep his mind a blank. He’s a widower and has 2 adult children, Winnie and Joe who is away in the States. Kettle is visited by two serving officers from his old station. Are they after some information that Kettle has or is this a sort of friendly call?

Immediately we step away from the typical world of TV drama and into a world of menace and uncertainty, reminiscent of Flann O’Brien, Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett. For example, Tom is invited to attend the station for an interview and we learn how 'Although he hadn't phoned to say he was coming in, he thought he had better phone to say he wasn't, and that he would make it in tomorrow, God willing.' – a sure nod to ‘Waiting for Godot’.

This novel is slow-paced – we spend a lot of time with Tom and gradually learn of appalling cruelties and complicities undertaken under the cover of supposedly caring love by the Catholic Church. These truly appalling deeds are told in undramatic language making it even more dreadful.

But the author’s storytelling allows us to learn of these events through a slow and gradual unfolding. We don’t know what’s going on but we keep reading because of the extraordinarily skilful prose of the author where every other line has a brilliant metaphor and where every paragraph is a prose-poem.

This is an important novel because it brings to life and makes plain the abusive practices in children’s homes in Ireland in the second half of the 20th century. Yes, this has been covered by the media through news reports but this novel makes the lived reality only all too real. This novel does a service in making sure that these abuses are not forgotten or covered up.

If you’re looking for an easy read crime thriller, then this novel may not be for you. But if you’re interested in reading some of the finest prose being written in English today and have the stomach to read of harrowing situations, then certainly give this novel a try.

Thanks go to NetGalley for making available a pre-publication copy so that I might post an unbiased an honest and unbiased review.

Such a well written evocative story. From the first chapter it is so easy to empathise with Tom, the widowed retired policeman. It is a truly warm story about ageing and forgiveness as he looks back on his life. It is kept relevant as he attempts to help the two young policeman investigating a protected priest, from accusations of abuse. It is a story that need re reading to garner its many intracacies.

This was a quiet book, but no less devastating for that. Tom Kettle is a recently retired policeman and his story is told through his stream-of-consciousness thoughts, but how much can he (and we) rely on his memories?

As ever with Sebastian Barry, the prose is beautiful. I also loved the setting, which was so well drawn by the author; you could really picture the seaside town of Dalkey, and Tom's new home there.

Sebastian Barry is the author of a book that has stayed with me ever since I read it back in 2017, the wonderful Days Without End. (I wasn’t alone in loving it because it went on to win the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction that year.) He’s done it again with Old God’s Time which is just as wonderful and unforgettable.

Written in close third person, the author takes us inside the mind of retired policeman, Tom Kettle. And what an unsettling and disordered place it is to be as past and present intermingle. Tom remembers some things like they were yesterday. On the other hand, events and conversations that appear to be occurring in the present day turn out to be the product of his imagination or echoes of things that happened long ago. Some of these moments, especially those concerning his family are truly heartbreaking.

As Tom looks back on his marriage to June, we are witness to an intensely moving love story. Tom may get confused about other things but he can remember the day he met June with perfect clarity, even the dress she wore. And as the story unfolds, we learn that. as children. they both experienced horrific cruelty at the hands of Catholic priests. The details are harrowing and difficult to read but it feels necessary to do so to bear witness to the people who experienced this in real life and to understand the devastating and lasting impact it had on them. Also shocking is, if not actual complicity, then a failure to act by other institutions including the Garda, the police service of Ireland in which Tom himself served.

It’s such a failure that had dreadful consequences for Tom and June, setting off a chain of tragic events. His resilience in the face of tragedy is humbling. ‘Things happened to people, and some people were required to lift great weights that crushed you if you faltered just for a moment. It was his job not to falter. But every day he faltered. Every day he was crushed, and rose again the following morn…’

There are mesmerising descriptions of the sea, the changing light and weather that Tom observes through the picture window of his flat as he sits in his favourite, ‘sun-faded’ wicker chair smoking a cigarillo. There are also touches of wry humour.

My first thought on finishing the book was, Oh Tom, I wish I could give you a hug; my second was, what a truly brilliant piece of writing. Old God’s Time is the kind of book that, on turning the last page, you want to read all over again. It’s also further proof that a novel doesn’t have to be big to deliver a powerful punch. Old God’s Time is definitely the best book I’ve read so far this year.

'It was a story of atrocities, certainly. It was almost beyond description, and he had laboured for years not to describe it, to anyone else, and more importantly to himself.'

Damn, Sebastian Barry can write. This is an extraordinary, powerful and quietly shocking novel, filled with luminous prose that will make you wonder at the English language, and full of damaged and fragile characters. The story unfolds slowly, like a slow-motion nightmare, and our central character Tom soon proves himself to be one of those pesky unreliable narrators. Things happen that may or may not actually have happened. And what actually happened remains hidden until the moment Tom unburdens his story to us.

And behind it all is Barry's wondrous prose: 'He heard the night wind mustering, mustering itself against the seaward wall.'

Profoundly moving and lyrical, this will break your heart as only the best literature can do. Surely a must for the Booker shortlist?

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

“Things once fresh, immediate, terrible, receding away into old God’s time, like the walkers walking so far along Killiney Strand that, as you watch them, there is a moment when they are only a black speck, and then they’re gone.”

My thanks to Faber & Faber for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Old God’s Time’ by Sebastian Barry.

Detective Sergeant Tom Kettle recently retired from the Dublin Garda is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle on the coast in Dalkey. He rarely sees anyone and is content to watch the seabirds outside his window and the fishing boats bobbing on the Irish Sea.
Then Wilson and O’Casey, two former colleagues, turn up at his door with questions about a decades-old case, which Tom had never quite came to terms with. Soon he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past as he revisits memories of his beloved wife, June, and their two children.

Sebastian Barry’s writing is exquisite and powerful. In ‘Old God's Time’ he has created an atmospheric novel that reveals its secrets slowly, including disturbing themes linked to the historic activities of a priest that both the Garda and Catholic Church had turned a blind eye.

‘Old God's Time’ is undoubtedly a melancholic novel though one with warmth and hope.

There are so many enthusiastic reviews out there and they all seem to be alike, it makes me feel as if it´s a copy-paste thing.
I like Sebastian Barrys' novels. They aren´t the easiest ones to read, but I enjoyed them. This one I find difficult. Not because of the story itself (sexual abuse, trauma), but because of the writing. Many people describe it as ´sublime´, but I just don´t see it this way. The book is divided into chapters and each of them is just one stream of text with almost no paragraphs, just tiny bits of dialogue rarely thrown in between the lines. This isn´t necessarily a bad thing, I've read many books written that way, but here there are so many digressions, the author sways off the topic, and jumps from one thing to another. And you never know what is a fantasy, what is a memory, what is a dream. It just made me tired.

A really well written book as with all of Barry's novels. There is an anger in this one and it hints at the helplessness of the older generations in the very rigid and theocracratic society of pre Europe Ireland. It deals with hideous crimes and seemingly untouchable perpetrators. The cycle bleeds forward forward and the tragedy that the next generation are always punished for the trials of their parents.

For me I was excited to read this book everyday. There was an element of mystery in the book and there are several unexpected turns. This book touched on very sensitive areas of Irish history and the abuse of the Catholic church. The implications of this abuse on the victims and the families of the victims. There is a lot of sadness in the main characters life.

I am sorry but I just couldn't get in to this book. I seemed so rambling and I had no idea what it was about.It is probably just me and other people found something that I missed.

Book Review...

'Old God's Time' by Sebastian Barry

The blurb... Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home... For months he has barely seen a soul, catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door... Occasionally, fond memories return, of his family, his beloved wife June and their two children... But when two former colleagues turn up at his door with questions about a decades-old case, one which Tom never quite came to terms with, he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past.

The first word that springs to mind when I think about this story is 'surreal' - Tom Kettle is a hugely unreliable narrator and the lines between reality, imagination and memory are blurred leaving a great deal of ambiguity around both his past and present life and lending a otherworldly quality to the reading experience.

Amid the uncertainty however there are glimmers of solidity which piece together the story of a tragic and harrowing childhood and its devastating repercussions.

It is dark and it is an uncomfortable read for sure but it is also one of great tenderness and unrivalled impact. The writing transported me directly into Tom Kettles head - into his pain and trauma, into his love for his family, into his inner conflict, into his grief - and it brought the full emotional weight of his tragic life to bear on my soul.

Check the trigger warnings, steel yourself and read this book. It was released at the end of February and is waiting to break your heart.

Ad/ pr copy.

EXCERPT: How young they were, him and Billy - late twenties, but also just raw gossoons, in a way. When you got old enough, these old matters changed in your head, took on new meaning. You saw more clearly what the gift of life could be - something precious given, then snatched back by the mean gods. How rare was a man like Billy. When you were young you thought there would be a succession of Billys. But there was only the one.

ABOUT 'OLD GOD'S TIME':
'Have you ever been the custodian of a story no one else believed?'
'Oh yes,' he said.
'You have?'
'Yes,' he said.
'Then I can tell you.'

Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea. For months he has barely seen a soul, catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door. Occasionally, fond memories return, of his family, his beloved wife June and their two children.

But when two former colleagues turn up at his door with questions about a decades-old case, one which Tom never quite came to terms with, he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past.

MY THOUGHTS: I think Old God's Time is going to haunt me forever. I cried great heartwrenching tears throughout this book. I wept in pain and in sorrow. It is a harrowing read. But I loved Tom. I loved his love for his wife, June, and his children Winnie and Joe. I felt his overwhelming pain, and wondered how he could have gone on. So much loss. So much grief. So much pain. Even now, days after finishing Old God's Time, just thinking about it makes my heart constrict.

But amongst all the pain and the sorrow, there is great beauty. Tom's friendship with Billy. His love for his wife and children, all now dead and gone too, but living on in his heart. The descriptions of the Irish countryside and even the weather.

Sebastian Barry is an exceptional writer and I am so glad that I have more books by this author lined up to read.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#OldGodsTime #NetGalley

I: #SebastianBarry @faberbooks

T: #SebastianBarry @FaberBooks

#aging #crime #familydrama #friendship #irishfiction #mystery

THE AUTHOR: Sebastian Barry is an Irish playwright, novelist and poet. He is noted for his dense literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers

Barry's literary career began in poetry before he began writing plays and novels. In recent years his fiction writing has surpassed his work in the theatre in terms of success, having once been considered a playwright who wrote occasional novels.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Faber and Faber for providing a digital ARC of Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

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