Tom a retired policeman is surprised when two officers visit his home to ask him about a case that he previously worked on.
A slow moving story with some good characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Newly retired detective Tom Kettle is living out his final years in Daleky, an affluent suburb of Dublin overlooking the wild unpredictable Irish sea….”he was quite content just to gaze out. Just to do that. To him this was the whole point of retirement, of existence- to be stationary, happy and useless”... His life takes a rather unexpected turn when he receives an uninvited visit from 2 of his old colleagues, dispatched by former boss Chief Fleming. It is thought that Tom might be of assistance in helping to solve an historic case in which he had direct involvement…..”I’ll send you out to Tom Kettle, good sane clear headed Tom, with a whole citadel, a museum of experience in his head, he’ll set this to rights, give us a heads-up, a way forward, a good steer, a helping hand”.....

What follows is one of the most heart wrenching stories I have ever read, brought to life in such a lyrical and emotional way by the much revered author Sebastian Barry. Tom is a quiet man with a sad past that is slowly revealed to the reader as the novel progresses. This is a book that deals with the legacy of abuse within the church, this is a book about memory and our ability or not to recall events from the past, this is a book that deals with the human desire and need for love, but above all it is an emotional ride as painful thoughts and long forgotten events emerge to disrupt and disturb this quiet man in his final years…..”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”...Towards the end of the novel, Tom has cause to notice his neighbour Ronnie McGillicuddy a cellist who could often be heard practicing. Accepting an invite to visit, Tom is at once transported to another dimension by the virtuosos musical skill……what follows made me cry…..”Ronnie McGillicuddy sawed his cello into sweetness, into a thousand sweetnesses, an old Jewish tune being injected into Tom, injected into Ronnie himself - swaying and even muttering , like a lunatic, a poor assailed person, you would think, away with the fairies. They were both away with the fairies and June was alive, she was alive, beautiful and wise, and she would always be there, bursting with life, calm as any old painted Madonna, as long as he did not open his eyes. He lifted both his hands and reached out to hold that longed-for face. To hold it, the soft cheeks, the dark skin, to hold it,to hold it.

Many thanks to the good people at net galley for a copy of this delightful novel in return for an honest review, and that is what I have written. Highly recommended.

In Sebastian Barry’s latest novel, Tom Kettle is getting to grips with old age and loneliness. A recently retired Dublin policeman, he now rents a small apartment on the grounds of a castle on the Irish coast and spends his days in a comfortable armchair watching the sea and befriending his neighbours. His peace is broken by a visit from two policemen asking for help with a nasty but all too familiar old case of abuse and Catholic priests, which Tom’s old partner was involved in. This brings forth a flood of memories, childhood spent in an orphanage, meeting his future wife June and the life they had together, his children Winnie and Joe, his career. Ghosts and reminiscences, long supressed memories merge with the present until the reader, along with Tom is no longer certain what is real and what is not.

Barry is such a fantastic storyteller and manages, in this short novel, to elicit a gamut of feelings. The melancholy tone is underscored by the depth of love Tom has for his wife and grief for her passing, the suffering and abuse he endured growing up in a Catholic orphanage. There is occasional laughter too. I fell in love with Barry’s writing in Days Without End, the lyricism and beauty of the prose juxtaposed with the tough subject matter and Old God’s Time has that in spades. There is a cinematic quality to the writing, especially in the landscape of the Irish coast, I now long to visit. And while this is a quieter, more introspective novel than Barry’s previous couple of books, it is no less poignant and even a little heart breaking.

My thanks to Faber & Faber and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Old God’s Time. Highly recommended.

What a beautiful book! In many parts incredibly sad but also incredibly uplifting. Recent events have forced Tom to think back on his life and that of his wife and two children. Some of the novel is very hard to read but the love that Tom has for his wife somehow balances this out.

I doubt I'll do this novel justice with this review but I'll try.

Sebastian Barry is, admittedly, one of my favourite writers. His prose is a work of art. The words wind around you like a spell almost. I can lose myself in paragraphs, almost forgetting that there is in fact a story in there.

And then, just as you're relaxing into it, he metaphorically whacks you round the back of the head with something so shocking you'd have to catch your breath. The first time he did this was at the end of A Long Long Way. He's managed this revelatory way of story telling in every book since.

There is so much of a story that he reveals that you begin to get smug and think you know what's happened but in Old God's Time the shocks simply keep coming.

It is certainly one of his more dreamlike stories. You're never sure what Tom Kettle is actually experiencing. There were times when I had to stop and go back a few paged to make sure I'd not missed something but then after carrying on reading all would be made clear.

Tom is a fascinating character. A retired detective whose family are all gone, living in part of an old castle by the coast in well-heeled Dalkey. His memories weave their way in and out of the present making you unsure of what is real and what is not. However Tom's past has finally caught up with him with the arrival of two young detectives asking about his recollections on the death of a priest many years before.

Sebastian Barry takes us on a journey through the past of Tom, his wife June and their children. It is not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination dealing, as it does, with child abuse, the priesthood, corruption in the Garda, death, love, grief and fear.

This novel covers so many issues you'd expect it to be quite hard work but Sebastian Barry has such a way with language that it does not feel that way at all.

Highly recommended to any Barry fans or those who prefer their books to say something. Truly wonderful.

Tom Kettle is a retired policeman who always tried to do the right thing. He is living the life of a recluse in small flat in Dalkey when two young policemen call to get his thoughts about an old distressing "cold" case. This sounds like the basis for a sharp murder mystery but if you are looking for a linear, pacy plot driven novel then look elsewhere.
This book is almost like a stream of consciousness over the course of a few days from inside Tom's head as his thoughts jump about from topic to topic and his memories, sometimes unreliable and clouded surface. For example, in the first chapter when the policemen call his thoughts meander from assessing his feelings about having policemen at the door, his retirement do, getting bogged down in the details of how they might like their tea, wondering if he has a biscuit to offer them with tea, his sorrow about his wife's passing and a flashback to their life, observing how young the policemen look and so on and on before the Gardai even get to tell him the reason for their call. I found this really infuriating but I know others will love the lyrical. poetic, meandering, discombulationg style. It dis take me a while to get used to.
The case involves abuse of all kinds, including sexual abuse which is always horrific and harrowing and after having just read Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart I think I didn't really have the fortitude needed for further exposure. So, I had to lay the book aside for a while until I was in a better frame of mind to finish it.. I did find it ultimately quite haunting and harrowing, so much deep pain, hurt, lasting distress and scars caused by the church and created within communities and family.

My first read of Sebastian Barry - much to my surprise as I would have sworn I had read some of his work. I seem to have been reading, and greatly enjoying, a lot of Irish fiction of late.

Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle lives alone in an annex of a castle. The subject matter is difficult . Tom is asked to hep with an old case concerning alleged abuse by two priests. Tom is an unreliable narrator. Barry’s prose for me, it too overdrawn and the blurring of present and past and reality and imagination were too much for me. An example of the prose:
“Here was a fine big room after all, not poky like the hall, that took Tom by surprise, with three tall windows framed by trimmed and gathered curtains, still open so the ex- panse of window glass glimmered darkly. The clerk’s-ink of night had spoiled the view, but well he knew that view already, Tom, from his own perch in the wicker chair. And he thought briefly it was strange that they were all living with the same glad sight, and yet closed off to each other, strangers and worse. There were family photographs all about, wherever there was space, almost a superabundance, as if they had profligately bred, these Tomeltys, almost too profusely. And books on shelves, upright, fallen, like the in- tegers of a primitive computer, and library lamps throwing light onto their shoes.”

A disappointing read but thanks to Fabre and Fabre through Netgallery for an ARC

This story, about Tom Kettle, retired police detective living alone in a flat in a large converted house known as a “castle” in Dalkey, Ireland, is set in the present, following the visit of two former colleagues to his home one stormy night, and in the past, as Tom recollects memories of his life in the police and the arm and with his deceased family, wife June and his two children, Winnie and Joseph.
The writing is absolutely beautiful and incredibly evocative - but it is perhaps the dense, poetic nature of the writing which, whilst undoubtedly brilliant, also made this such a challenging book for me to get through. The book does an excellent job of portraying the mind of Tom Kettle - but again, the way it was written, in order to portray the upset and aging mind of Tom Kettle (I've seen other reviewers refer to it as stream of consciousness writing and I'd tend to agree) was a real struggle for me. I made myself push through to the end because I did really want to find out what had happened in Tom's past (and again Barry did a great job of making me want to know who had killed Father Thaddeus, and what had happened to his family) but I'm sorry to say that I was rather relieved when I finished the book. Nonetheless, thank you to NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this ARC.

It is hard to review this book without giving anything away.
It is first and foremost a feast of words and expressions, so deftly used that you feel you get to know the fine, upstanding character of Tom Kettle, a retired detective who has always tried to do the right thing.
That he loved his now dead wife and treasured the time he had with her and how much he misses his wife June is told quickly and beautifully.
But Tom or rather Tom's memory is an unreliable narrator and fact and dreams and perhaps ghosts get so mixed up that the startling little surprises along the way both shocked and confused me.
It is a beautiful book about pain and loss and ultimately about how some can seemingly bear great suffering while others cannot ever really get out from under it. But it's about so much more than that - friendship, family, one very ordinary man's retirement and even child abuse.
I will read it again very soon and feel like I will come to a different conclusion in my mind the next time I savour its beautiful language and story.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for the ARC of this book, all opinions are my own.
Barry's writing, as usual, is lyrical and sublime, even though the subject matter is difficult. This book is a fitting testament to the suffering endured by so many in Ireland for so long (and in other countries, too, obviously). The contrast between the protagonist's musings on the past is vividly underlined by the descriptions of the landscape and weather, and if he is sometimes an unreliable narrator, this only highlights the complexities of his case and that of his tragic family.
A bit slow-moving to start with, but definitely a book (like all of Barry's) that will haunt the reader long after they have finished reading it.

Heartbreaking and haunting, Barry’s latest protagonists, Tom Kettle, is going to stay with me for quite some time…

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Faber and Faber for the privilege.

How to begin a review of this extraordinary book? With the lyricism of the writing, the dark subject matter, the unreliability of an old man’s memory, the tragedy of the man’s life and loves? Any of these would be fine material for a review, but this book has them all. Tom Kettle is a retired Irish police detective who has decided to live a quiet life by the sea, alone with his memories. A visit from two young detectives investigating an old case causes Tom to delve deep into his own memories of the loves and losses of his life. It is not always clear how much of the narrative is real and how much imagined, but the poetry in the writing adds to the dreamlike atmosphere of the book even though the subject matter is sometimes very dark. The book begins slowly and perhaps takes a little too long to gather momentum, but it is always entrancing and the reader cannot help but be moved by Tom’s story.

That so much pain and distress can be distilled and written with beauty and awe is remarkable, but nothing less than I would expect from Sebastian Barry.

This is a harrowing focused work that sits you firmly in the head of Tom Kettle, retired policeman and recluse whose attempt to shut out the world in isolation gradually fall apart as you read on.

The richness of the writing and the despair of the story are so moving, the book touches on so many issues and histories that you actually feel while you are reading,

It's a truly remarkable book, its impact will stay with you long after you read the last page. Amazing.

I would definitely agree with a lot of reviews which say that this book was slow to start however once it gets moving it's a really enjoyable book.

As you would expect with Sebastian Barry the writing is flawlessly poetic and it's clear that his reputation will only be enhanced with such a novel

I'm sorry to say that I found "Old God's Time" by Sebastian Barry quite boring on the whole. I had to keep checking the synopsis to remind myself what I was reading. It was well-written but just not for me.

An emotional and beautiful novel written by Sebastian Barry. The main character is Tom a retired police officer living nr Dublin. Although it took a few chapters vefore I was gripped by the story I would definitely recommend this as a must read book.

A haunting and emotional book. Written in a beautifully poetic style. Tom Kettle, a retired policeman, is visited by two detectives in connection with a cold case they are reviewing. Their visit stirs up memories and Tom struggles to come to terms with the past. Written as a stream of consciousness, the story meanders and flits as Tom pieces together his memories. The story starts off slowly but gently gathers pace. The subject matter is grim and upsetting but handled well.
I found the slow pace at the start of the book to be challenging but the poetic nature of the writing kept me interested. As Tom's memories became clearer and the pace of the story quickened, I engaged with the emotional revelations despite their grimness. I thought the hazy blend of memory, imagination and dreams was a beautiful way of capturing the state of Tom's mind. A lovely, thoughtful story.

A writer in possession of something divine; a reader possessed by a book

A don’t really know where to start, or where to end, with Sebastian Barry’s extraordinary, transformative, discombobulating, heart-breaking, uplifting, sometimes unbearable book

The start, where we are immediately in the stream of consciousness of the central character, a recently retired detective, was like a brilliant, dizzying combination of Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and Dylan Thomas. And all itself – all Barry, distilled to a different level of his wonderful writing.

Tom Kettle, a big, solid, seemingly calm and practical man, was an excellent, compassionate and conscientious copper. A man of integrity, respected, liked, admired, loved. There is sadness and tragedy in his past. And there is also great richness, joy, humanity and love

How much of each will unfold through Kettle’s emerging, and sometimes troubling, memory. Tom lives alone now, retired, and a widower. He misses his dead wife June with unbearable intensity. He had two children, as well as a wonderfully happy marriage, a daughter Winnie, a son Joe. But there is some darkness here, some confusion which both Tom and the reader feel. It isn’t that Tom as a person is unreliable, but his memory, his understanding, doesn’t seem to stay in quite the same place, and is troubling.

Barry has lodged the reader, somehow, within Tom, so Tom’s own skittering away memory and grasp of time becomes ours.

This is beautiful literary fiction, and ostensibly, is a police investigation of a cold crime which has resurfaced, and Tom’s prior expertise, is called for by his previous superior officer. But is so much more than any of this, and I would not want to spoil any reader making their own journey with this extraordinary book

I read this as an advanced review copy, in late November 2022, and this is my book of this year. And I’ve read some very good books.

This broke my heart with grief and horror, made me laugh, and at times I could neither bear to read it for anguish and fear for Tom, nor could I bear not to read it.

I have read quite a few books by this author. All wonderful, but this one, just exceptional. And so good that I can’t even attempt to read another fiction book for a wee while, but will wean myself away from this perfection with a well written non-fiction book

This is another beautiful and haunting novel from Sebastian Barry. It is sad and at times dark, especially the shocking accounts of abuse of children. I will totally recommend this book to his fans or anyone who is not familiar with his works.

A beautifully written book with a gentle, lyrical style for such a potentially harrowing central topic. I really enjoyed this book, set in rural Ireland, and felt it evoked the time, values and place of its setting very well. I particularly liked the way the main character, Tom, was developed through the book and the way our sympathies were changed and sharpened with the twists and turns of the plot. Always sensitive to the subject matter and our evolving perceptions of the background to the events, this is an intriguing and absorbing novel and kept my interest throughout. A lovely read.