The Secret Scripture

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry was named “Novel of the Year” for 2008 at the Irish Book Awards and was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The novel tells the story of Roseanne Clear McNulty, a patient at Roscommon Regional Medical Hospital. Dr. William Grene has been her psychiatrist for 24 years. Roseanne is near 100 years old but doesn’t know her true age. She was first a patient in Sligo Mental Hospital, nicknamed Leitrim Hotel because of its large population of Sligo citizens. Roseanne’s in-laws, the McNultys, who were employees at the hospital, worked with Father Aloysius Mary Gaunt, a stern local priest, to have her committed there. While growing up, Roseanne was close to her father, Joe Clear, a Presbyterian who worked as a superintendent at a Catholic cemetery in Sligo. Joe Clear entertained Roseanne with stories, many of them about his years in the British Merchant Marine.

While Roseanne writes her personal history, or “testimony,” Dr. Grene writes his observations of her in his commonplace book. The narrative shifts between these two characters, whose seemingly disparate lives converge as the novel progresses.