This novel has a marvellous cast of characters, credible dialogue and a brilliant plot.Īstute readers will have twigged to the who and what of the mystery half-way through the novel, but this in no way reduces the enjoyment or the compulsion to continue reading Barry's beautiful prose for the how and why.

Dr William Grene, Senior Pyschiatrist at Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital, is particularly concerned about hundred-year-old Roseanne McNulty, suspecting that her sectioning some sixty-plus years ago, like many others of that era, may have been based on social convenience rather than psychiatric need.īarry sets up his story as twin narrations: 'Dr Grene's Commonplace Book' is meant to contain a professional account of the last days of the hospital, but Will includes his personal observations about Roseanne McNulty and the results of his investigations into her admission as well as events, past and present, in his own life 'Roseanne's Testimony of Herself' is a secret memoir that Roseanne writes and keeps hidden, detailing events in her life leading up to her sectioning, along with present day happenings. Against the background of the imminent closure of an Irish mental facility, an ageing psychiatrist reviews his remaining patients for suitability to re-enter the community at large. The Secret Scripture is the seventh stand-alone novel by Irish author, Sebastian Barry.

The secret scripture book