Awards

Costa Novel Award
2009 Shortlist
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
Judges: "A heartbreaking and lyrical tale of loss, betrayal and redemption."
Roseanne McNulty, perhaps nearing her 100th birthday - no one is quite sure - faces an uncertain future, as the Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital where she's spent the best part of her adult life prepares for closure. Over the weeks leading up to this upheaval, she talks often with her psychiatrist Dr Grene. Told through their respective journals, the story that emerges is at once shocking and deeply beautiful. Refracted through the haze of memory and retelling, Roseanne's story becomes an alternative, secret, history of Ireland.
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