New Releases by Sebastian Barry

Jack McNulty is een `tijdelijke gentleman, een Ier wiens aanstelling in het Engelse leger tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog nooit vast is geweest. Ook zijn huwelijksgeluk met Mai Kirwan, het mooiste meisje van Sligo, is geen lang leven beschoren. Na vele omzwervingen, als soldaat, ingenieur en observator voor de Verenigde Naties, komt Jack uiteindelijk in Accra terecht, waar hij besluit zijn grillige levensverhaal op papier te zetten. Sebastian Barry werkt gestaag voort aan een reeks onafhankelijk van elkaar te lezen romans waarin hij één familie, zijn eigen, op de voet volgt en zo de twintigste-eeuwse geschiedenis van Ierland en de Ieren in kaart brengt. In ons taalgebied vonden al meer dan 35 000 van zijn boeken hun weg naar de lezers.

En fantastisk fortelling om en kvinne med et stort hjerte. Historien om Lilly Bere strekker seg over syv tiår – fra depresjonen via andre verdenskrig og Vietnamkrigen, frem til slutten av 1900-tallet. Vi får høre om Lillys flukt fra Irland og IRA til USA, om det brutale drapet på forloveden, om kjærligheten som dukker opp på nytt og forsvinner igjen, om Lilly som strever for å forsørge seg selv og sin sønn, og om sønnen som overlever Vietnamkrigen, men som forsvinner på sin ferd tilbake til USA.

Hvordan lyder det, når et 89 år gammelt hjerte brister? Der vil måske ikke være meget mere end stilhed, og i hvert fald blot en ganske lille, sprød lyd. Hjertet tilhører Lilly Bere. Året er 1992, og Lillys elskede barnebarn, Bill, har begået selvmord efter at være vendt hjem fra den første Golfkrig. Derfor sidder den 89-årige dame og nedskriver tanker om sit liv, for også hun har besluttet at afslutte det. Tankerne er i kronologisk orden, men afbrydes af småfortællinger om Lillys dagligdag og starter, da hun og hendes forlovede Tagd ved slutningen af Første Verdenskrig, må flygte fra hjemlandet Irland til et nyt liv i det forjættede Amerika. DAGE MED LILLY er en knugende, barsk og på samme tid smuk roman om håb, familiebånd, krig og kærlighed og en flugt fra Irland til et nyt liv i det forjættede Amerika. Pressen skriver: »DAGE med Lilly er en fin og læseværdig roman om en kvindeskæbne i det 20. århundrede... « Rasmus Dahlberg, Weekendavisen

Longlisted for the Booker Prize, a mesmerizing new novel from the award-winning author of Old God''s Time A first-person narrative of Lilly Bere’s life, On Canaan’s Side opens as the eighty-five-year-old Irish émigré mourns the loss of her grandson, Bill. Lilly, the daughter of a Dublin policeman, revisits her eventful past, going back to the moment she was forced to flee Ireland at the end of the First World War. She continues her tale in America, where—far from her family—she first tastes the sweetness of love and the bitterness of betrayal. Spanning nearly seven decades, Sebastian Barry’s extraordinary fifth novel explores memory, war, family ties, love, and loss, distilling the complexity and beauty of life into his haunting prose.

De Ier Willie Dunne is nog maar net achttien jaar als hij zijn verloofde Gretta verlaat om in Vlaanderen met het Britse leger mee te vechten in de bloedige strijd die later de Eerste Wereldoorlog zou gaan heten. Tijdens zijn verlof breekt in Dublin de Paasopstand tegen de Engelsen uit. Willie sympathiseert met de opstandelingen en haalt zich daarmee de woede van zijn vader op de hals. Ook Gretta breekt met hem, nadat ze erachter is gekomen dat hij zich in Vlaanderen heeft misdragen. Verteerd door twijfel en verdriet keert Willie terug naar de loopgraven. Hij vecht voor zijn leven in een oorlog die slechts verliezers kent.

"Roseanne McNulty está a punto de cumplir cien años, pero no conoce su edad con certeza, nadie la conoce. Roseanne se enfrenta a un futuro también incierto puesto que el Hospital de Roscommon, en el que ha pasado la mayor parte de su vida adulta, va a ser cerrado. Durante las semanas previas a este acontecimiento perturbador, Roseanne conversa con su psiquiatra, el doctor Grene. La relación entre ambos, discreta pero de confianza después de tantos años, se intensifica y se complica a causa del duelo del doctor Grene por la muerte de su esposa. A través de la alternancia de los diarios de ambos personajes, se va tejiendo una narración profundamente hermosa, y la vida de Roseanne, reflejada en la bruma de la memoria y del recuerdo, se convierte en un recorrido por la historia secreta de Irlanda. Exquisitamente escrita, Barry nos permite recorrer una vida plagada de abusos, muerte y guerra, pero sin olvidar la impronta del amor, la pasión y la esperanza. Por esta maravillosa historia, Sebastian Barry, ha sido finalista -por segunda vez consecutiva- del Man Booker Prize."

Now a major motion picture starring Rooney Mara An epic story of family, love, and unavoidable tragedy from the two-time Booker Prize finalist and author of Old God''s Time Sebastian Barry''s novels have been hugely admired by readers and critics, and in 2005 his novel A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In The Secret Scripture, Barry revisits County Sligo, Ireland, the setting for his previous three books, to tell the unforgettable story of Roseanne McNulty. Once one of the most beguiling women in Sligo, she is now a resident of Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital and nearing her hundredth year. Set against an Ireland besieged by conflict, The Secret Scripture is an engrossing tale of one woman''s life, and a poignant story of the cruelties of civil war and corrupted power. The Secret Scripture is now a film starring Rooney Mara, Eric Bana, and Vanessa Redgrave.

A powerful new novel about divided loyalties and the realities of war from “master storyteller” (Wall Street Journal) Sebastian Barry, author of Old God''s Time In 1914, Willie Dunne, barely eighteen years old, leaves behind Dublin, his family, and the girl he plans to marry in order to enlist in the Allied forces and face the Germans on the Western Front. Once there, he encounters a horror of violence and gore he could not have imagined and sustains his spirit with only the words on the pages from home and the camaraderie of the mud-covered Irish boys who fight and die by his side. Dimly aware of the political tensions that have grown in Ireland in his absence, Willie returns on leave to find a world split and ravaged by forces closer to home. Despite the comfort he finds with his family, he knows he must rejoin his regiment and fight until the end. With grace and power, Sebastian Barry vividly renders Willie’s personal struggle as well as the overwhelming consequences of war.

The latest dramatic offering from one of Ireland''s master playwrights Johnny Silvester should be enjoying his retirement in his opulent home outside Dublin, but the past is catching up with him. Once lionized for ushering the Irish Republic into the modern world, Silvester has fallen out of favor not only with the public, but also with his family and friends. Rapidly aging and fed up with a barrage of criticism, he retreats to his study where he reassures himself of his inculpability and awaits a call from his doctor--a call he expects will bring news of a fatal affliction. As he hovers near the phone his family, friends, colleagues, journalists, and students come forth with their reproaches. Among these visitors is the Morleyesque ghost of Cornelius, an ex-colleague and one-time friend for whose mental breakdown and death Silvester is responsible. With Hinterland Sebastian Barry examines the personal and public risks involved in making political advances on a national scale. Weaving modern history in with the life story of a man and his family, Barry has created another searching drama of the uneasy balance between heroism and roguery in Irish politics. The latest dramatic offering from one of Ireland''s master playwrights Johnny Silvester should be enjoying his retirement in his opulent home outside Dublin, but the past is catching up with him. Once lionized for ushering the Irish Republic into the modern world, Silvester has fallen out of favor not only with the public, but also with his family and friends. Rapidly aging and fed up with a barrage of criticism, he retreats to his study where he reassures himself of his inculpability and awaits a call from his doctor--a call he expects will bring news of a fatal affliction. As he hovers near the phone his family, friends, colleagues, journalists, and students come forth with their reproaches. Among these visitors is the Morleyesque ghost of Cornelius, an ex-colleague and one-time friend for whose mental breakdown and death Silvester is responsible. With Hinterland Sebastian Barry examines the personal and public risks involved in making political advances on a national scale. Weaving modern history in with the life story of a man and his family, Barry has created another searching drama of the uneasy balance between heroism and roguery in Irish politics.

Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "the finest book to come out of Europe this year," The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty is acclaimed Irish playwright Sebastian Barry''s lyrical tale of a fugitive everyman. Sebastian Barry''s latest novel, Days Without End, is now available. For Eneas McNulty, a happy, innocent childhood in County Sligo in the early 1900s gives way to an Ireland wracked by violence and conflict. Unable to find work in the depressed times after World War I, Eneas joins the British-led police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary—a decision that alters the course of his life. Branded a traitor by Irish nationalists and pursued by IRA hitmen, Eneas is forced to flee his homeland, his family, and Viv, the woman he loves. His wandering terminates on the Isle of Dogs, a haven for sailors, where a lifetime of loss is redeemed by a final act of generosity. The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty is the story of a lost man and a compelling saga that illuminates Ireland''s complex history.

Eneas McNulty et ses tribulations : soixante-dix ans de la vie d''un homme. Né avec le siècle, en 1900, à Sligo en Irlande, il vit heureux avec ses parents avant l''arrivée de ses frères et de sa sœur. Très tôt, il prend le large. A douze ans, il traîne avec Tupenny Jane, une adolescente à la moralité douteuse ; à seize ans, il part défendre la France dans la Grande Guerre - et se retrouve à Galveston, Texas ; de retour au pays, il entre dans la police - ce qui lui vaut une sentence de mort des Républicains ; il s''échappe de Sligo, et commence une errance sans retour, sans rémission. La mer du Nord, la débâcle de Dunkerque, un vignoble français, l''asile psychiatrique, le Nigeria forment les toiles de fond de sa destinée. C''est en 1970, sur l''île des Chiens, à Londres, qu''aura lieu l''ultime confrontation avec ses traqueurs, venus d''Irlande l''exécuter, et la mort s''accomplira dans une apothéose prodigieuse. Les tribulations d''Eneas - telles les pérégrinations d''Enée, son ancêtre forment un univers où le poème est devenu prose et l''épopée roman ; et ses aventures, pour contées qu''elles soient à la troisième personne, le sont dans sa langue toute personnelle, drôle souvent, celle d''un éternel enfant, mais aussi âpre, rugueuse, lyrique et d''une prodigieuse puissance d''évocation digne d''un héritier direct des bardes irlandais.

THE STORY: The fifth play in a cycle of plays about the author''s Irish family, THE STEWARD OF CHRISTENDOM is a freely imagined portrait of the author''s great-grandfather, Thomas Dunne, the last Chief Superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police