The Secret Scripture
As spring passes and summer beckons we continue our tour of Booker nominees. This month the Book Club turns to 'The Secret Scripture' by Sebastian Barry, the bookmakers’ favourite in last year’s contest. Stephanie Forward introduces the novel.
Roseanne McNulty has been a patient in mental hospitals for most of her adult life. The Roscommon institution is facing closure, and a Senior Psychiatrist, Dr William Grene, has to assess whether Roseanne can be sent back into the community.
Their lives are revealed to us through journal entries. Roseanne describes her childhood and marriage (‘Sligo made me and Sligo undid me’), sharing precious memories of her beloved father and the husband she adored. However, her account does not tally with the damning official record unearthed by Dr Grene. Should we believe Father Gaunt’s document, ‘mostly eaten away by mice and crawling with silverfish, like some ancient scroll of the desert’? Or should we trust Roseanne’s harrowing private testimony, which she keeps hidden under a loose floorboard? To complicate matters, she asks herself whether she is mixing up her memories with her imaginings; and Dr Grene has traumas of his own to contend with following the death of his wife.
Barry’s novel spans significant years in Ireland’s troubled history. The reader becomes immersed in the country’s past, over and beyond the compelling personal stories of the two protagonists.
Although The Secret Scripture did not scoop the Man Booker Prize, it was voted the Costa Book of the Year. Matthew Parris, the Costa panel’s chairman, revealed that the decision took the judges quite some time:
‘They agreed that it was flawed, and almost no one liked the ending, which was almost fatal to its success.’
Do read the novel, then let us know what YOU think! Join the discussion by commenting below.
Content last updated: 30/04/2009
About our expert
Stephanie Forward is Senior Tutor in Open Studies in the Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Warwick, and is an Associate Lecturer with The Open University. Her publications include Dreams, Visions and Realities; Sex, Social Purity and Sarah Grand (with Ann Heilmann), and the CD script for Blenheim Palace: The Churchills and their Palace.
Stephanie has been involved in two significant OU/BBC projects: The Big Read (2003) and the television series The Romantics (2006). She also leads the Open2 bookclub.
