Penguin.com (usa)

The Secret Scripture

A Novel

Sebastian Barry - Author

Adobe reader | $12.99 | add to cart | view cart
ISBN 9781436223584 | 320 pages | 28 Apr 2009 | Penguin | 8.26 x 5.23in | 18 - AND UP
Additional Formats:
Awards
  • I.M.P.A.C. Dublin Award: Longlist 2009
Summary of The Secret Scripture Summary of The Secret Scripture Reviews for The Secret Scripture An Excerpt from The Secret Scripture
An epic story of family, love, and unavoidable tragedy from the two-time Man Booker Prize finalist

Sebastian Barry 's novels have been hugely admired by readers and critics, and in 2005 his novel A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In The Secret Scripture, Barry revisits County Sligo, Ireland, the setting for his previous three books, to tell the unforgettable story of Roseanne McNulty. Once one of the most beguiling women in Sligo, she is now a resident of Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital and nearing her hundredth year. Set against an Ireland besieged by conflict, The Secret Scripture is an engrossing tale of one woman's life, and a vivid reminder of the stranglehold that the Catholic church had on individuals throughout much of the twentieth century.

" [Barry writes] in language of surpassing beauty. . . . It is like a song, with all the pulse of the Irish language, a song sung liltingly and plaintively from the top of Ben Bulben into the airy night."
-Dinitia Smith, The New York Times

" Barry recounts all this in prose of often startling beauty. Just as he describes people stopping in the street to look at Roseanne, so I often found myself stopping to look at the sentences he gave her, wanting to pause and copy them down."
-Margot Livesey, The Boston Globe

"Luminous and lyrical."
-O, The Oprah Magazine


To keep up-to-date, input your email address, and we will contact you on publication

Please alert me via email when:


The author releases another book


   

The Weird Sisters Book Cover image
$15.00 | buy now

The Weird Sisters

Eleanor Brown

This is the "delightful" (People) New York Times bestseller that's earned raves from reviewers everywhere is the story of three sisters who love each other, but just don't happen to like each other very much…
Read the author interview.

The Odds Book Cover image
$25.95 | buy now

The Odds

Stewart O'Nan

In the new novel from the author of Last Night at the Lobster, a middle-age couple goes all in for love at a Niagara Falls casino.
Get the reading group guide.