The Secret Scripture – Sebastian Barry

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Nearing her 100th birthday, Roseanne McNulty faces an uncertain future, as the Roscommon Regional Mental hospital, where she’s spent the best part of her adult life, prepares for closure.

♥ “Set in an Ireland besieged by conflict, The Secret Scripture is a tale of a 100-year-old woman’s life, and a vivid reminder of the stranglehold the Catholic church had on individuals throughout much of the 20th century.

“In the weeks leading up to the closure of the Mental Hospital, Roseanne McNulty speaks with her psychiatrist Dr Grene, who must decide who of his patients are to be transferred, and will be released into the community. He is particularly concerned about Roseanne, and attempts to discover her history. 

“Told through their respective journals, the stories that emerge are refracted through the haze of memory and retelling. Roseanne’s story becomes an alternative, secret history of Ireland’s changing character and the story of a life blighted by terrible mistreatment and ignorance.

It is very difficult to be a hero without an audience, although, in a sense, we are each the hero of a peculiar, half-ruined film called our life.

Irish conflict usually doesn’t hold either Suzy or Rachel’s attention, but the centenarian, Roseanne McNulty, in The Secret Scripture stole the limelight here and helped build the poignant tale about loss and broken promises. Rachel found her voice both compounding and personable, revealing much in her story fragments. Suzy wondered what additional layers could have been added to truely convey the female experience at the heart of this story.

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Published 2008
Faber & Faber
312 pages