The Secret Scripture is a 2008 novel written by
Irish playwright Sebastian Barry.
The Secret
Scripture by Sebastian Barry
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Sebastian Barry, winner of the
2008 Costa Book of the Year award talks
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Plot Summary
The main character is a one-hundred year old woman, Roseanne
McNulty, who now resides in the Roscommon Regional Mental
Hospital. Having been a patient for some fifty years or more,
Roseanne decides to write an autobiography. She calls it
"Roseanne's testimony of herself" and charts her life and that
of her parents, living in Sligo at the turn of the 20th Century.
She keeps her story hidden under the loose floorboard in her
room, unsure as yet if she wants it to be found. The second
narrative is the "commonplace book" of the current chief
Psychiatrist of the hospital, Dr Grene. The hospital now faces
imminent demolition. He must decide who of his patients are to
be be transferred, and who must be released into the community.
He is particularly concerned about Rose, and begins tentatively
to attempt to discover her history. It soon becomes apparent
that both Roseanne and Dr Grene have differing stories as to her
incarceration and her early life, but what it consistent in both
narratives is that Roseanne fell victim to the religious and
political upheavals in Ireland in the 1920's - 1930's.
Awards
The novel won the Book of the Year at the Costa Awards, 2008[1].
It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction
[2], narrowly
losing to The White Tiger
[3]
At the Irish Book Awards, it won "Novel of the Year" and the
Choice Award [4].
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