Totally gripping haunting novel!

Tom is a retired detective living in peace with his memories of his family, but peace doesn’t last long when two former colleagues turn up knocking for his help!
Pulled back into darkness Tom must revisit his past and fears in this grippingly cant put down novel it definitely is a page turner.
Thanks to the publisher for allowing me a glimpse into Toms world of mystery and a big well done to Sebastian Barry a fantastic book.

Another triumph from Sebastian Barry. A very well written tale that has twists and turns that draw you in.

The central character, Tom Kettle, is a recently retired policeman. One day two young detectives come to his door asking for help with an historic case. But all is not as straightforward as it seems. Why do they take his toothbrush? Why does he need to give a blood sample?

This is not a detective story though. It is a story about love and grief. It is a story about evil and guilt. It is about the present, the past and the long ago past of childhood. It is sad, haunting and has many layers. You are never quite sure which of Tom Kettle’s accounts are real and which come from his troubled imagination.

This is a brilliant read set in Ireland which I totally recommend. I read a copy provided by NetGalley and the publishers but my views are my own.

Tom Kettle is a 66-year-old retired police detective living alone in a flat in a large converted house known as a “castle” in Dalkey outside Dublin.
The story describes the events following the visit of two former colleagues to his home one stormy night. What then happens causes Tom to recollect memories of his life: his wife June and his two children, Winnie and Joseph.
It’s a sad, moving but also beautiful tale and touches on some very disturbing aspects of Irish history including the orphanages with sexual abuse of children by priests. Barry doesn’t hold back in describing the dreadful nature of such things as well as describing the horrific aftermath of the 1974 Dublin bombing by the UVF.
It’s a shocking and disturbing book but, as always with Barry, beautifully written and some passages are reminiscent of James Joyce’s Ulysses as the minutiae of the banalities of life is described in detail.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

A very deep and intimate book. The story revolves around historic child abuse and how the main character, now an old man, processes his memory of his family and the abuse suffered. A very lyrical book with exquisite description and dialogue. Superb.

Again, another first for me, another new author. I chose this based on the cover.
A few pages in, I was mesmerised by this, utterly mesmerised. The writing is beautiful and I could envisage everything. I felt like I knew Tom and had done my whole life.
A book bursting with a myriad of emotion set in a beautiful landscape.

Highly recommended

A poetic, atmospheric and emotional novel

Sebastian Barry is one of my favorite Irish writers having absolutely loved The Secret Scripture and A Long Long Way. I was very excited to get an advance copy of his new novel to read in return for an honest review.

Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into life out of the fast lane of law enforcement, his new home is a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea. He is leading a solitary existence catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door. With only his memories for company he reminisces of the good times and bad, of his family, his beloved wife June and their two children, Winnie and Joe. When two of his old work colleagues call unexpectedly to get his help with an old case he worked on, Joe is forced to confront an emotional past and time in his life.

I enjoyed many aspects of this novel. The writing is poetic and descriptive and draws the reader in from the very first page. The subject matter is grim and heartbreaking The story is told largely in a stream of consciousness, which I found a little difficult to connect with. I wasn’t entirely sure of what was real or imagined in the story and finished the book wondering if I had completely understood the story or believed what I was being told by Joe. Having said that I really enjoyed the book . I loved the character of Joe. I think this this would make a good bookclub read as there is plenty of discussion in this one. An emotional read and a book that will stay with me.

My thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

Set in mid-90s Ireland, Old God’s Time follows a recently retired police officer whose ex-boss has been told to reopen a cold case which involved two priests, both child sex abusers, one of whom had been brutally murdered while the other was moved on to another parish.
Tom’s taken aback when two young detectives knock at the door, asking questions about the unsolved murder on which Tom and his partner Billy worked. Billy’s now dead but Tom may be able to shed some light on what happened. It’s thirty years since Father Matthews’ murder but they’re eager to ensure that his curate is finally brought to justice. Tom has suffered terrible losses in a life which didn’t start well, having suffered brutality and depravity in the orphanage where he was raised. His ex-colleagues are considerate and kind but they know more than they let on.
Barry’s writing is gorgeously poetic, lyrical and striking in its imagery. Tom’s narrative slowly unfolds a story the details of which he has been hiding from himself for decades. The loss of his beloved wife ten years ago, a fellow orphan unable to live with what was done to her as a child, has left him bereft. Memories of her and their life together, full of an anguished, yearning, are woven through a narrative which at times brings you up short as the depths of Tom’s trauma and what it has done to him become clear. His is a desperately sad story; there’s a beauty in Barry’s telling of it which makes the ugliness all the more stark.

Tom Kettle, retired policeman, is now renting a small flat overlooking the sea at Dalkey near Dublin in Ireland. He hardly sees anyone now and generally that doesn't bother him. He has mixed feelings when two serving policeman turn up to talk to him about an old case. They have been asked by their, and Tom's old, senior officer to get his thoughts on the case. Indeed other things seems to conspire to disturb his tranquillity. A young mother renting a neighbouring property seems to be worried. Tom is also reflecting on his family - something of a mystery initially.

The story follows Tom's actions and thoughts through activity and reflections. It's fair to say that it is not always obvious whether all aspects of his internal narrative are true. There is a real Irish lyricism to the story telling here. It also often feels like a "stream of consciousness" book too. If I add that time can be mixed and jumbled it might be one of those books that don't tend to work well for me. However I was definitely wrong with that idea for this book!

The first thing I should say here is that for me the writing is exceptional. Indeed it is so rich that I found myself reading this far slower than I might have done just to savour the sentences! The beautiful writing can be tender, honest, open, funny, dark, powerful - it really is all here. I could probably pick almost any paragraph from this and quote something that pleased me.

Much of our time is spent inside Tom Kettle's head. He has led a full life. Given that and his age quite a lot has happened to him and his family. Some of it is disturbing (and this is a warning), maybe deeply disturbing to readers and some of it is to Tom too. This is a book, a story, that builds steadily. The question as we read it is to what? I guess this may be seen as a book about memory, ghosts and demons. Does our memory deceive us sometimes, how real are our ghosts, and what about the demons we have and think we have?

Ultimately this is a haunting tale and will stay with me for a long time to come. If you want a deeply satisfying if disturbing read this is well worth taking a look at.

𝙾𝚕𝚍 𝙶𝚘𝚍'𝚜 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝚂𝚎𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙱𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝟸 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟹.

As Laureate for Irish Fiction from 2019-2021, you expect Sebastian Barry's writing will be exceptional. And with his upcoming novel he doesn't disappoint. This story is a stream of consciousness from retired policeman, Tom Kettle, exploring memory, love, grief and ageing. Through Tom Kettle, Barry shows the enduring effect of personal trauma and vicarious trauma caused by institutional child sexual abuse and the failings of the Catholic church; the loss of family; drug addiction; murder; regrets...It's a dark and depressing novel that pulls you in and is all consuming. At certain points I thought maybe I didn't have the emotional fortitude to keep reading but Barry lightens it with his beautiful descriptions of the Irish surroundings and the people. It’s an emotional story of feelings and memory that we all potentially carry and perhaps don’t get time to fully contemplate when caught up in living and a reminder to take the time and consideration for older people. Everyone has their story.

Will definitely be buying a hardcopy of this when it is released. 5⭐️

Thank you to #netgalley and @faberbooks for the ebook to review.

This is a very sad story of Tom Kettle, a man who has suffered great loss, as well as having a hard life, having been abused as a child. In the depths of this novel is the subject of abused children, which is never an easy subject to read, so be prepared. And the nature of this subject as well as Tom’s life, is magnified by the stark descriptions of weather, the landscape and its people. But, Tom’s story is also a story of love and sensitivity, to give the reader the warmth they desire.
Unfortunately Tom is in the throws of dementia and this is dealt with by Barry, through a sense of confusion, i.e. past memories; what was and is real and also Tom’s present life. It is a daring step to tackle this without confusing the reader by disconnecting them from the flow of the story.

I am a huge fan of beautiful prose to paint a sense of place and person, and Barry is a master. As a newbie to Sebastian Barry, I will definitely seek out and look forward to reading, other novels by him.

Many thanks to the Publisher and to NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

Tom is a widower and a retired detective, living alone in the annex of a castle on the coast near Dublin, The main narrative takes place over the course of just a few days but covers most of Tom's life to date via his reminiscences.
I do enjoy Sebastian Barry's writing and I did so again in this novel, particularly his vivid descriptions of the weather, landscape and appearances of people.
I did not know what to expect from the story and it took quite some time for me to engage with the book and the main character. Tom's is a very sad story which is gradually revealed over the course of the novel. He seemed to me to be older than the stated 66 years (I am 67) although this is possibly as a result of his hard life.
Tom seems to be in the early stages of dementia and is aware of his poor memory. As a result it is not always clear whether his reminiscences are real or imagined which makes following the plot somewhat confusing.
Rating this as 3.5 rounded up to 4.

This book was really compelling. The writing is stunning - poetic, rich and full of imagery. Though the story spans only a few days, it takes the reader through a whole life filled with with the breadth of human emotion, from love and joy to loss and fear. What is particularly memorable for me is the way the Irish landscape is its own character throughout.

This is a sad book. Based near Dublin, retired detective sergeant Tom Kettle is the focus of the book. He and his late wife suffered abuse as children and are determined to do all the right things for their children, Winnie and Jo. By the time he retires, all three of Tom’s family are dead much of the book is an old man with memory loss ruminating over his past. The book is almost half way through before it becomes clear where it is heading. At that point he becomes a subject of interest in a cold crime being reinvestigated by his former colleagues. It involves a priest abusing children and not the only one in Tom’s recollections. This book is well written but the substance is Tom’s partial memory of his past. It does record some important issues from his past.

Sebastian Barry is a much garlanded writer: most notably twice Costa Novel of The Year winner (both times then going on to win Costa Book of the Year across all categories) and four times longlisted for the Booker Prize (two of which books went on to be shortlisted), he has also won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Prize, the Irish Book Awards Best Novel, the Walter Scott Prize, the Independent Booksellers Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

This is his first novel since the widely acclaimed “Days Without End” and its sequel “A Thousand Moons”. Those excellent novels (the only ones I have read) featured a very distinctive writing style: one which mixes plain speaking characters, and descriptions of violence and harsh poverty, with beautifully poetic imagery conveying the grandeur, beauty and terror of the American landscape and weather. The books could I think be criticised on two aspects: a rather made-for-Hollywood plot (with rather too many improbable rescues) and an apparent disconnect between the writing style (clearly written as a first person reminiscence and not as an omniscient narrator) and the narrators background.

This book in short I would say: retains the evocative landscape writing - with the coast of Ireland substituted for the American plains; has a greater emphasis on interiority – but again conveyed in a beautifully crafted prose; retains the stark contrast between the beauty of the writing and the unpleasantness of much of what is being described (if anything I found that contrast stronger here); loses the made-for-Hollywood plot but retains a cinematic feel (more introspective art film than Hollywood Western); still has the slight disconnect that the beautiful prose is largely (not exclusively) the thoughts of the main character – even if this time expressed in the third person - and slightly incongruous to their background.

The set up of the book is relatively simple: Tom Kettle is a retired Irish policeman who has moved into a small lean-to on the side of a Castle on the Irish Sea Coast. He is widowed (having lost his beloved wife June) with two children – a daughter Winnie who is his solitary, occasional visitor and a son Joe who has emigrated to America (working as a locum on a pueblo in New Mexico) and seems set on a simple if melancholic life.

At the book’s opening two policeman visit him to ask for his help with a recently re-opened case concerning two allegedly abusive priests.

Immediately Tom is forced to revisit the ghosts of memories, feeling and actions that he had long suppressed, with the past effectively colonising the present and with both Tom and our views of what is real and what is dream or memory increasingly unclear among the gradually revealed horrors and truths.

On the strength side, in addition to the powerful writing, the book is a moving explanation of what it means to love and be loved, but one which is far from sentimental in its portrayal of the life long and generational impact of unpunished and unacknowledged abuse, and how even seeming justice can lead to an unbearable weight of guilt (particularly when coupled with the undeserved shame of a victim).

On the weaker side I did feel that the two key tropes of the book: the blurring of past/present and reality/memory/dreams; and the unspooling atrocities were both overdone (particularly the latter as ultimately the accumulative revelations end up dampening rather than reinforcing their impact).

But overall I think this is a book which will appeal hugely to existing Sebastian Barry fans – particularly those who enjoyed “Days Without End” as well as win him some new ones.

I found this a difficult book to read, both because of the subject matter, but also because of the writing style, which needs concentration. It's a good book if the reader perseveres, but it isn't a book to pick up lightly at the end of a busy day.

Although Sebastian Barry has twice been a Booker Prize finalist, I had never picked up any of his novels – a mistake I finally corrected by reading Old God’s Time.
Set in the hauntingly beautiful coastal setting of Dalkey, a seaside resort southeast of Dublin, Barry’s main character is retired Detective Sergeant Tom Kettle, who spends many hours in self-appointed isolation, smoking his beloved cigarillos and reminiscing about his life and career. Gradually, his interior monologue becomes intertwined with an ongoing police investigation, and the scope of his recollections widens to include the harrowing child abuse cases at the hands of Catholic priests, a chapter in Irish history that will never be fully closed. Written in achingly beautiful prose, this is a book that deserves a wide readership and that should, like two of Barry’s previous novels, also be a strong contender for the Booker Prize. Thank you to Faber and Faber (the publishers) and to NetGalley for the ARC that enabled me to familiarise myself, finally, with Barry’s work and to produce this unbiased book review.

Written in the form of a lyrical, slightly hectic, stream-of-consciousness, Old God’s Time, like all Sebastian Barry’s novels, is frequently lit up by moments when the narrative focuses intensely on details of the landscape, transforming them into something breath-taking and magical.

Nonetheless, I must confess, I found this a very difficult story to read. The subject matter is grim – an old man, sexually abused as a child, married to a woman also sexually abused in childhood, the impact of that abuse on their children, and the awful sequence of events in which all this culminates.

More importantly, it’s not at all clear how much of what is narrated, really takes place. Clearly, the narrator is burdened by deeply repressed memories which, towards the end of his life, are beginning to resurface in his consciousness. Clearly, he is suffering from an inability to separate the past and the present. Perhaps he is also mentally ill. Perhaps he is dying and these are the confused thoughts of a mind beginning to disintegrate. Perhaps he is, himself, the perpetrator of some of the abuse.

It's a brave and powerful work. I just wasn’t entirely sure what was going on much of the time, which ultimately left me dissatisfied.

This book was full of moments.
Some bleak and devastating, some full of warmth and love.
Tom Kettles life has seen a lot of things, and a lot of emotions.
I really enjoy Barry's writing, that just seems to flow from the page (I'm sure he doesn't feel it flows onto the page!) and despite some subjects, it's a dream to read.
Very enjoyable, as always.

Lyrical, haunting, atmospheric and elegiac. This was a wonderful read and a beautifully written book by a master of his trade.

I loved the way it mixed flashbacks and memories of the main protagonists former life as a policeman with an investigation of an open case.

Barry has a way with words and this drew me in from the beginning and will live long in my memory.

A sad story of devastating personal loss and some shocking accounts of abuse of children, I wondered at times whether I was going to be able to read to end of this novel. It is redeemed, though, by the high quality writing I have come to expect of Sebastian Barry, especially descriptions of the Irish coast around Dublin and some terrific characters.

Tom Kettle, the main character, is a recently retired police officer, living alone with his memories and grieving for those he has lost. In his distress, he (and the reader) cannot always tell if he is remembering events or imagining them and a tense atmosphere of foreboding builds up as he tries to navigate his way through a series of encounters with old colleagues and new neighbours.

‘The nine months alone had been like a pregnancy, and it had given birth to new thoughts, and new light on old thoughts, and this time now was going to be the time when he reared those thoughts. Wiped their arses, stuck plasters on their grazes, and sent them to school. He felt there was a great reckoning coming but he didn’t know what it was exactly.’

‘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 like a cartoon figure. Road Runner, Bugs Bunny-crushed, yet recomposed. Never the smell of death in a cartoon.'

A searingly emotional read, highly recommended despite the often repellent subject matter.