The Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry

My first novel by Sebastian Barry, and certainly not my last., this is one of a connected set of novels entitled the McNulty Family Series, each story is stand-alone however.

A Co Roscommon mental hospital has been condemned and psychiatrist Dr Grene is assessing certain patients for suitability for reinclusion in the community, one of whom, 100 year old Roseanne has lived within the "asylum" system for sixty odd years. They develop a tentative relationship as Roseanne's memories begin to unfurl and Grene tries to pick apart the truth from narrative provided by the parish priest whose interest in Roseanne's circumstances seem to be the reason for her sectioning in the first place.

Although this is set against the background of the Irish Civil war, there's not much to learn from a political point of view, other than the fear and suspicion of anyone and everyone else that was pervasive in that time. What Barry captures exquisitely is how that translated into social life, how easy it was to inadvertently fall on the wrong side, the quicksand nature of reputation and respectability and the absolute power that the church and those in higher standing in the community wielded over the vulnerable and marginal.

Told in alternating timelines, which works so well as each piece of Roseanne's puzzle falls into place, the truth finally starts to emerge, but memories are only true to one's perspective. and lies may also be true to someone else's perspective.

The Sligo town of Roseanne's childhood and the Strandhill of her young adulthood are completely authentic. With my own mother's people being of that place it is a regular haunt, so I am gratified to revel in all it's wild glory,

Although this begins with a slow pace, and it might drag towards the middle for someone not so personally invested in the history and geography of the place, it reaches such a surprising conclusion that my jaw dropped and my heart almost burst. This sad, cruel, violent story has somehow leapt to the top of my favourites list for 2023 and upset all my predictions. It might not be for everyone, but it absolutely is for me.

Thanks to #netgalley and #faberandfaber for giving me the opportunity to review this outstanding title

What an amazing book. Why didn’t I read it before. I was totally engrossed.
The story’s about 100-year old Roseanne who is in a mental asylum near Sligo, Ireland and Dr Grene her psychiatrist who has to assess her to see if she is suitable for care in the community.
Roseanne writes her story from childhood to how she came to be in the Asylum and Dr Grene tries to find out about her history independently as she is a very quiet person. In each chapter you find out a little more about their histories.
The book had me totally hooked and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is not a light read as it touches on the troubles in Ireland and how a sane woman can end up in a mental hospital. But it is so worth reading.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5172460657

Quite hard to get into at first, and I struggled at times to follow it and with the slightly meandering and indirect writing style, but eventually this resolved itself into a really thoughtful and gripping novel. It deals with some big questions - insanity, adoption, religion, past injustices committed at a time when social mores were different - but in a gentle way which doesn't intrude on the narrative arc. Both the main characters, who tell the story in interwoven alternating chapters, are well drawn and I enjoyed spending time with them. This is also a novel with a strong sense of place and I really felt like I got to know rural Ireland through it.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy in return for an honest review.

This was a beautifully written novel, both startling and haunting.  It won the award for the Costa Book of the Year but as I reached the end, it did not leave me with the sense of amazement that I have come to expect from the finalists.  This was an uncomfortable read at times, I even considered putting it down at one point which I never do.  Sebastian Barry's book is painful and tries to expose some very painful truths about Irish history - part of my problem therefore is that my family is Irish and they do not care to expose the hurt.  The Secret Scripture speaks of the very worst being done in the name of religion, the slaughter of love done in the name of God.  The narration is shared between the forgotten centenarian Roseanne McNulty and her psychiatrist Dr Grene.

Roseanne has been committed to a psychiatric institution for over sixty years, her records are long-lost but as hospital faces closure, Dr Grene searches for her true history and finds himself captivated by her past.  Roseanne is reluctant to confide in him but writes down her secrets and hides them under the floorboards - still, the reader is left uncertain about how far to trust her narration.  She is an old lady, an old lady with secrets to hide and who may or may not have been committed for good reason.  Still, it is hardly a surprise to discover that she has been the victim of those who never had her welfare in mind.

Feminism takes a bad rap - I have heard otherwise rational-speaking females pronounce that it is responsible for all that is wrong with our world.  Still, if the women's liberation movement have made any advances that prevent women being summarily incarcerated against their will and without charge, I am going to stick my neck out and call that a Good Thing.  The idea of someone's life being snatched from them in this awful way makes me shudder.  Roseanne's story is uncomfortable because although she may be fictional, her situation is not.



Religion and Ireland are uneasy bedfellows, the scars of sectarianism run deep.  Roseanne comes from a working-class Presbyterian family, her mother is English and her father is in disgrace.  She finds herself a vulnerable figure in Sligo with nobody to speak for her.  Even the reader is encouraged to distrust her, her view of events is undermined by the scraps of documentation that remain; even the sympathetic Dr Grene realises belatedly that he has dismissed her story because he has not looked at the clues properly.  There are not enough beds for every resident to move on to the new facility and so Dr Grene must decide which inmates to release 'into the community', forcing himself to face which of his patients were only ever committed on social rather than medical grounds.

I love Ireland, after a childhood which felt slightly nomadic, in many ways Ireland has been the constant in my life.  I spent every summer there at my grandparents' house, often deposited by my mother while she got on with whatever else needed doing.  When I was five, I played doctors and nurses with a boy who I still sometimes see in the town centre - when I was eight, he asked me to marry him but these days we just blush and walk on.  Still, there has always been something else to Ireland, like sitting down without ever feeling comfortable.  My grandfather was a policeman and it is only now, five years after his death, that I feel able to say that publicly.  From very young, I knew that the phrase "Don't talk to strangers" had a very different meaning in Ireland.  There is a darkness to the country that goes far beyond the legendarily short summers and bitter winters.  Roseanne McNulty is a fairly obvious metaphor for the country itself; an old, old lady who loved dearly and was treated appallingly.  Roseanne bears the scars of crimes wrought by religion, crimes by men and the failure of love - she was well-known for her great beauty when she was young, but ends her days shrivelled and forgotten.  Oh Ireland, what have we done to you?

Stepping back from the metaphor, it is tempting to see this as a simple story of womanhood abused - Maggie O'Farrell wrote The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox with similar themes but Barry's novel packs a greater punch.  Roseanne sought sanctuary in her marriage to the man she loved but her past and the eagle-eyed local priest would not let her go.  I was strongly reminded of Jean McConville, that other flesh and blood lady who converted to Catholicism for her husband but once widowed found herself alone in hostile company.  Kidnapped in front of her ten children in 1972, last week a man was finally arrested for her murder.  Her family did not get her body back until 2003.  I feel a huge sense of weariness when I read stories like this, a sorrow for people who have so forgotten their humanity that they are capable of such wickedness.  To do so in the name of religion turns my stomach.

I have faith - it infuriates me how faith has become the object of ridicule, as if believing in something higher than oneself is eccentric at best.  Today is Good Friday, a day for commemorating the great sacrifice of our Saviour.  Still, for all that, it is also important to remember that all have sinned and fall short, including priests and ministers.  Roseanne suffered from a priest who sought to and succeeded in tearing her marriage asunder; her faith and her father's faith is disregarded - while Jesus may order those without sin to cast the first stone, 1930s Sligo was not so merciful.  I found the ultimate ending to The Secret Scripture as unnecessary as it was predictable - I saw it coming, I hoped it would go differently but the cliche could not be stopped.  If we return to the metaphor of Roseanne as Ireland, it works slightly better, to have that recognition of kinship.  Otherwise that 'twist' takes a lyrical and beguiling novel into cheesy made-for-television movie territory.

To look on the old, the helpless, the abandoned, it is easy to forget that they have their own stories, their own histories, identities, loves, losses, families, beliefs - The Secret Scripture considers how we can piece together the sum of someone's life.  Memory is unreliable, even Roseanne admits that it is not to be trusted, always shifting and as changeable as the moon.  This novel feels incomplete, there are no firm answers, no certainties and we must rely on our own judgement to judge Roseanne McNulty's life. I understand that it is part of a wider series about the McNulty family and I feel tempted to read The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty but I felt that this novel proved only that the truth of anybody requires a certain amount of faith.  Apparently The Secret Scripture is to be made into a film, perhaps the time has come to honour them.

Roseanne has been in a mental institution for most of her life and a doctor has encouraged her to tell the story of why she was brought there.
This is a sad slow moving tale about the power of the Catholic Church in Ireland in the 1920’s.
Thank you to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

A book about Irish history which manages to be both a fantastic story and beautifully written too. I raced through it but didn’t want it to end either.
It is a sad and shocking account of how women were treated not really so long ago and how events are remembered, each protagonist sure of their own truth. Through the layers of the story there is shame and pride, unkindness and sympathy in equal measure, as there is in life, nothing ever being a simple case of right and wrong.

Roseanne McNulty is a remarkable woman, and an interesting narrator. To have endured the life that she has, being sectioned for over half of her extremely long life, and to possess such a calm demeanour, is nothing short of miraculous. She is certainly a more patient, forgiving woman than I.
In contrast to Roseanne’s account, we have a second version of Roseanne’s life. This narrative is tainted. Distorted by a mistrust of beauty, misogyny and an alleged God given right to control.

Through the lens of Roseanne, we see so much of Ireland’s troubled history. A dangerous time, of great change, fear and polarisation.

As you can imagine, the details of treatments and procedures in such an institution in the past are horrifying to contemplate. The use of FGM as a weapon against mentally unwell women is hard to find words for. 

As a poor, young, beautiful Protestant woman, she didn’t stand a chance against the patriarchy and a controlling Catholic priest, who had long since decided her fate.
Roseanne’s story is bleak and full of sadness, such a waste of youth and potential. It is impossible to read this book, and not feel devastated for what this gentle soul endured.
The Secret Scripture speaks of love and hate, long held grudges and forgiveness, of finding solace and kindness in unexpected places, of the way a community can turn as a whole against an individual, for their own petty insecurities.
Roseanne and her diary feel credible, it reads like non-fiction. Her tale is very deserving of the Man Booker short list it received in 2008. Without doubt, 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.

Republished in 2015, The Secret Scripture (2008) by Sebastian Barry is the second in a trilogy series of an Irish family saga. Roseanne Mc Nutty is nearing her hundredth birthday and decides to put her memories down on paper. Her home for most of her adult life, Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital is about to close down. Doctor Grene, her trusted psychiatrist has to assess her for her new accommodation and is intrigued as to why she has spent her life in institutional care. Their latent friendship will reveal many mysteries of their pasts and events that neither could imagine. A slow gentle tale reflecting decades of Irish history and the tragedy that befalls some people. An enjoyable literary fiction that makes for four star read rating. With thanks to Faber & Faber and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

This is a gem of a book, about memory, truth and Ireland. At 100 years of age, Roseanne starts writing her own story, which she hides under the floorboard of her room at the Roscommon mental health hospital, where she has lived for the past sixty years. The Roscommon is a Victorian monstrosity that is falling to pieces and a new asylum is being built. As a result, Dr Grene, the Consultant Psychiatrist needs to move those patients who really need psychiatric care and return to the “community” those who are now sane - or were never insane in the first place. But what is he to do with a centenarian, and one that refuses to tell him why she landed in a mental hospital in the first place? Dr Grene suspects that Roseanne was one of many who was wrongly sectioned and begins his own investigation. Roseanne’s early life is intricately linked with the history of Ireland in the twenties and thirties, about which I knew very little. It was fascinating to learn more about that violent period in Ireland’s history and the genesis of the IRA, but this is not a history book by a long shot. It is about memory, personal truth and who writes history, both that of women and that of a country. Dr Grene’s investigation end with a final reveal that is like a punch to the sternum, and which I did not see coming at all. Sebastian Barry writes like an angel and ultimately, I read this as a book about hope. “At end of day,” Roseanne concludes her confession, “the gift of life is immense”.

The story revolves around 2 individuals -Roseanne, an inhabitant of the Roscommon regional mental hospital and the doctor who is increasingly concerned about Roseanne's thoughts, welfare and uncertain future in the lead up to the closure of the hospital. For me what struck me most was the careful exploration of what memory is - and the fact that the memories of an individual may be very different to the 'memories' of priests, doctors, state institutions generally.

Sebastian Barry is an author I've not encountered before. I thought his writing style excellent and when I finally reached the end of the story couldn't help but admire the way that the different threads wove together to reach a sad but nonetheless quite satisfying conclusion. I'd put this book at about 3.5* because for me the pace was just far too slow and I did struggle to get through to the end.

Troubled voices; wonderful characters on a journey unravelling the past 4.5 raised

Sebastian Barry is a gorgeous writer. His use of language is rich, textured, and something to sink into with pleasure. He holds the narrative reins, and these are well steered by his complex, believable, individual characters.

I have read several of his books enjoying each one, but did not know this one. Taking Ireland at different times during the last century the reader might find that though each book can be read as a stand alone, a particular family’s history is explored.

In this, the family is the McNulty family – other members stories are told in other books. Central character in this one is Rosanne McNulty, a very elderly woman, over 100 years old, who has spent most of her life as a sectioned patient in a mental hospital. The reason for her incarceration is not immediately clear, as over the almost 70 years of her committal, records have been lost.

Rosanne is a wonderful, complex woman, and as memory fades she is writing a secret history of her life, hidden beneath the floorboards

The hospital she is in is due to close. Dr Grene, her clinician is having to administer what happens to the few patients still remaining, and is trying to decide who can be discharged, back to their families, and who can’t. Dr Grene is (as the reader is) strangely drawn into a fascination with this mysterious ancient woman, surely close to her demise, but in whom spirit burns bright and vibrant. Grene is making notes on Rosanne, and is himself having dark nights of the soul.

Through these two individuals, Ireland’s own complicated history is also unfurled.

I really love Sebastian Barry’s writing. It is full of poetry and human stories. The troubles,; the plight of women in that time; the cruelty of the church, and through it all the Irishness of it all. The ceaseless rain and litany of wrong turns makes for quite sad reading. The atmosphere is heavy with foreboding, but through it all there are moments of such pathos and love, you can’t help being moved by it. This is my second reading of the McNaughty story, spread out through Barry’s fiction. I loved reading them the first time, and am inspired by this rereading to dive into them again.

Another story that at first I found a little difficult to begin with but after a little while it captured my interest and I was glad that I continued and read this to completion.

So persevere if you find it hard to understand where this is going, it'll be worthwhile as it's an intersting story with, perhaps, an unexpected twist towards the end.

I wasn’t aware of this book but on being given the opportunity to read it by NetGalley I could see it had won countless awards when it was published. Having now finished it, I can understand why it won so many plaudits.

At the heart of the story are two characters - Roseanne, a 100 year old woman living in a mental hospital in Ireland; and Dr Grene, a psychiatrist at the hospital who, when the hospital is about to close, has to assess whether Roseanne is fit to be in the outside world. Both tell us about their lives through journals. Roseanne seems to write for posterity and understanding. Dr Grene writes initially for his medical records but then it feels like almost a form of therapy.

This is a wonderfully told tale that encompasses so many themes: the accuracy of memory, grief, the mistreatment of others who fall foul of society’s standards, love, hope…and it’s all told against the backdrop of Ireland in the twentieth century.

While I may be late to reading this one, I can highly recommend this powerful, sad but hopeful book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this..

I didn’t know what to expect when I began reading this book but it did not take long before I was hooked. Superbly written, emotive and evocative novel about the reign of the Catholic Church in Ireland during the 20th century amidst the social and economic upheaval. Shown vividly through the family, and later social, aspects between the legendary McNultys and the Clear family, whose daughter bears the shame of her father’s past.

# The Secret Scripture
By Sebastian Barry

Roseanne McNulty is nearing her 100th birthday and the mental hospital where she has spent most of her adult life is due to close. She talks to her psychiatrist and her story reflects a secret alternative history of Ireland's changing character.

This is a story of the history of Ireland, felt through two people. A psychiatrist of almost 65 years of age and his 100-year-old patient. On the face of it, that doesn't seem so interesting but it is so beautifully written. Filled with comedy and humour plus equal amounts of sadness and misery. This does take some perseverance but is well worth the trouble.

Verdict - A great story, well written and, once you get used to the writing style, a pleasure to read. Plus a wonderful and surprising ending.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me access to this book. This is something I wouldn't ordinarily have read or chosen for myself but I am glad I got to read it.

I have struggled with this book to be honest. The plotline is fantastic. It really is and I would have rated it so much higher were it not for the fact the story rambled on and writing was slightly too wild for me. The dialect became very confusing in parts due to the era and time the book was partley set in which was Ireland in the 1920/1950s.

The book was very slow to start but finally picked up in the last third. I finally got excited to be reading about a certain turn of events for it to go back to rambling towards quite a dissapointing conclusion. I did guess majority of the plotline. This didn't ruin the story for me. I enjoy guessing correctly but it became evident what the plot was during when the story gained momentum. There was only one way for the book to take and i'm glad it did turn out that way in the end even if I didnt rate the ending.

I found out this book is a part of three and I am interested to read the other two as the characters are overlapped into each book. I also found out this book is now a film and I hope to watch it soon.

I enjoyed this book and don’t wish to give anything away — because the impact of the story is partly in how it unfurls.

The author‘s words lend beauty to difficult events and characters. The structure creates intimacy and immediacy as we follow two accounts, which refer to yet others texts. It sounds complex but feels seamless and utterly absorbing.

By immersing ourselves in these different perspectives, we are naturally invited ponder the truth and ask “what is the nature of history. Is it only memory in decent sentences, and if so, how reliable is it?”

This is an exquisitely written and extraordinarily emotional novel. Roseanne Mc Nulty is a long term resident in a mental institution in the west of Ireland. It pieces together the conflicting accounts of Roseanne's early life in post-Civil War Sligo and the events that led to her confinement, which she retold in part as an autobiography and in part through the commonplace book of her psychiatrist, Dr. Grene.

Although this was my first Sebastian Barry book, it won’t be my last! Thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for the opportunity to read and review this haunting novel.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no large gaps between words some text written has been typed in red and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book therefore a star is lost for this.

This was such a good book. I love historical fiction, especially when it is about eras/ situations that I previously knew nothing about and this was definitely one of those books. It was so well researched and so compelling in its narrative that not only did I love reading it but I felt that I learned too. A really enjoyable read and perfect for any fans of historical fiction. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.