The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

[Lindach]

Roseanne McNulty, is a long forgotten 100 year old resident of the Roscommon mental hospital.The old Victorian institution is soon to be demolished, while all its residents need to be rehoused and 'freed' back into society. She decides to write a memoir of her life story which she keeps secretly hidden under her floorboards. She has not told anyone her story since she was forced to enter the mental instituition in the 1940s.

Her memoir forms the main part of Sebastian Barry's compelling novel, in which Roseanne's testimony is interwoven with that of her psychiatrist, Dr Grene. Dr Grene has his own problems dealing with his grief with the loss of his wife.

The story has the Irish history of the early twentieth century as its background. It is full of the usual tragedy that seems to have affected most of the lives of the Irish people during the "Troubles" of the fight for independance and the ensuing civil war after the formation of the Irish Free State.

It also brings to light the way many women were treated not only in Ireland but in many Western countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries ,being put in mental instituitions by male relatives especially when they would not or could not conform to society's norms.I felt very angry and sad at the way Roseanne was treated and it reminded me of another book "The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox" which followed another women's wrongful and tragic incarceration in a mental institution.

This book is beautifully written and I loved the author's use of language. The ending was suprising yet I did have a suspicion of the outcome a little earlier in the book. It is easy to see why it was shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize and just recently won the Irish Book Awards.

Highly recommended. I'm going to read Barry's other Booker Prize shortlisted novel 'A Long Long Way' next.

[Read, Review & Win]

A little hard to get into at first, but once caught, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It is beautifully written and thoroughly captivating.