The Secret Scripture AN IRISH TIMES BEST IRISH BOOK OF THE 21ST CENTURY

'Roseanne McNulty is almost a century old and has been imprisoned in a mental institution in the west of Ireland for many decades. But with the hospital facing closure, her psychiatrist Dr Grene conducts a series of interviews with her to assess her suitability for release into the community. Through the accounts that each of them keep of their meetings, Sebastian Barry allows a horrifying tale of death, duplicity and deception to unfold, as it becomes clear Roseanne has become tragically enmeshed in the tangles web of Ireland's history, politics and religion.' London Review of Books