The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry | The McNulty Family #2

This book was a pick out of my TBR jar and was something that I was lucky enough to come across on a book swap list. The story is told as a dual perspective, by protagonist Roseanne McNulty and her psychiatrist Dr Greene. Roseanne has been a patient at Roscommon mental hospital for 50 years when she decides to write an autobiographical account of her life. At the same time, Dr Greene is charged with the responsibility of deciding which patients are able to be integrated back into society when the hospitals imminent demolition is carried out. Greene becomes particularly fascinated by Roseanne and determines to uncover her story.

What is very apparent as the beginning of the novel and something that continues throughout it is the importance of this book being Irish. In so many ways, both tangible and not, the importance of Irishness permeates every corner of the story. The backdrop of this book is the political upheavals of Ireland and particularly Sligo in the 1920s and 30s which makes for a turbulent rhythm to the story. The narrative is incredibly successful in creating a feeling unease that inevitably comes with war. In many ways the book is a study of what it means to be home, where it is and how you know you belong there and poses the question of what it means to be Irish.

One of the major themes of this book is the dichotomy between truth and lies. What becomes apparent from the different perspectives in the book is that what is 'true' is not always as clear-cut as it might appear. There are several instances when Roseanne's account does not quite match up to the accounts that Dr Greene has gathered about her. In her testimony she talks about a time when her father taught her about gravity showing her a feather and a hammer dropping from a tower. In Fr Gaunt's account of this incident Roseanne's father is attacked and killed for his political allegiances being beaten with a hammer and his mouth stuffed with white feathers. Considering that Roseanne is in a mental hospital it might seem obvious to believe the priests account of events, but he knows the story only as hearsay and what's more by the time this revelation comes in the novel, as a reader, I had already grown to feel for Roseanne and her circumstances. For Roseanne, what is true is what she believes. 

A large part of this plot is what we might call a 'family saga'. Roseanne's life is very much like this as the narrative goes through the death of her father, marriage, divorce and childbirth. I liked this aspect of the novel for the most part but I did find the plot twist to be not much of a twist at all and in fact it was something that I predicted in the first quarter of the book. Perhaps this is due to a loose familiarity with the genre, but even still I found it a little cliché. The family saga aspect of the novel is added to when you realise that this book is in fact the second of the McNulty family series. In a recent trip to a second hand book shop I was fortunate enough to stumble across the first in the series: The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty. I had no idea that this book fitted into a series and so I wouldn't say that it is necessary to read them in any kind of order or to read all of them at all. The Secret Scripture works perfectly well as a novel in it's own right and I enjoyed it as such.

I couldn't review this book without talking about the abuses of the mental health system. Roseanne's 'illness' is easily disputed once you learn the reason for her being entrusted to the state. Roseanne's is accused of being a nymphomaniac. As insulting as that is to my feminist sensibilities it does seem that the prejudices held by people and in particular the Catholic church at that time means that Roseanne's circumstances reflect the reality for real women of the time. She is not only a victim of a disgustingly patriarchal mental health system, but also the attention of a hateful and unforgiving priest. Fr Gaunt is instrumental in bringing about the worst events of Roseanne's life, from her divorce to her incarceration. Barry does not shy away from the failings of the church and the state to protect vulnerable women like Roseanne and instead uses Fr Gaunt as another tool in which to explore the nature of truth.

Fr Gaunt's actions and the less than compassionate way in which Roseanne was treated left a bitter feeling in my chest upon completion of the novel and this most of all prevents me from loving the book. It was most definitely worth reading and I would encourage anyone wanting to understand the troubles of Ireland in a less academic way to pick this book up. In terms of entertainment value, for me, the book had a moderate amount. I found myself far more interested in the stories of other people in the narrative, namely Eneas McNulty and even Fr Gaunt! I loved the character of Roseanne and it was her testimony that made the novel for me. Sadly, I wasn't that able to connect with Dr Greene leaving half of the book somewhat of a chore to read. Having said that I have come to enjoy the world that Barry has created and am excited delve into the other books in the series. 

Rating: ★★★

Previous in series: The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty

Next in series: The Temporary Gentleman

Longbourn by Jo Baker | Lost in Austen

This is the first book that I bought new in a very long time and a purchase that I made reluctantly. I had my biography of Mary Wollstonecraft in my bag ready for a coach journey when disaster struck and my water bottle leaked making it unreadable for days! I was in the mood where I really wanted to read and so I caved and went to the little WHSmith in the station. It is a very little shop and so only had the top ten best sellers that week. I read through all of the books and there was nothing that really caught my attention. The book that I really wanted to read was very much still soggy in my bag and I didn't want to buy a book just for the sake of it. Luckily I was saved from a bookless journey and a wasted purchase by Longbourn. 

The thing that eventually made me plump for this novel was that I realised it was set around the same time that Mary Wollstonecraft lived. At first glance I thought that it would be a re-imagination of Downton Abbey. I'm sure that all Austen enthusiasts are completely lost as to how I could have looked so much at this book and not realised that 'Longbourn' is the name of the house that the Bennets live in in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Well, I didn't. It's been only three years since I read Pride and Prejudice and yet it wasn't until I sat down to actually read the book that I figured out that Longbourn is in fact a re-imagining of Austen's from the perspective of the servants.

I loved this book and was caught from the first moment. The story is set all of the servants but heavily focuses on the maid Sarah. Her life parallels the life of Elizabeth Bennet as she too is blinded by pride and prejudice when the mysterious James turns up at Longbourn as the new footman. Having said that Sarah is lively and hard-working and the first half of the novel focuses on her longing for adventure. Sarah was orphaned as a young girl, but never settles for her lot in life. She always feels that she needs, wants and deserves more than the monotonous life of a domestic servant. We see this when she moves to Pemberley after Lizzie is married to Mr Darcy and finds that their is very little to do. With all of her free time she almost becomes a lady of leisure which she rejects in the name of adventure and true love.

The portrayal of the war in France and Spain is interesting as it is far from glorified and wholly sympathetic to the deserter, James. It tells the story of starvation and hardship and in the end we are left with very little regard for the army and it's officers. Wickham's appearances in this novel hep to add to this idea and I find myself feeling just the slight hint of sympathy for Lydia. The barbarity of the army is wholly fitting with the general questioning of authority and one's place in life.

There were some interpretations of characters that showed them in a completely different light to how I saw them in Austen's original novel. The detached, yet jolly figure of Mr Bennet in Baker's novel becomes just another entitle rake. We find out out that James is in fact the illegitimate child of Mr Bennet and Mrs Hill and whose disappearance is from Longbourn is paralleled closely with the disappearance of Lydia from Brighton. It is quite clear by My Bennet's actions which remain focused on Lydia where his loyalties lie.

Lizzie is also shown in a different in a different light in this novel. I had always thought her to be a fiery character, someone who breaks the mould and I do still admire her, but only in the context of Pride and Prejudice. Lizzie in this novel is entitled. Sarah quite rightly remarks that Lizzie might not dirty her dresses so much if she had to wash them which is the reality of who she would have been were she real. There was one incident in the book that encapsulates this entirely and that is when after receiving Sarah's resignation at Pemberley she has her brought to Darcy who scolds Sarah for her choice whilst Lizzie sits in near silence. I struggled to really believe this interpretation of her as I still want to believe that she is kind and not selfish. Perhaps the romantacised version is still firmly stuck in my mind.

This mini-review does depend upon someone having read Pride and Prejudice but the novel itself does not. Some of the parallels and so the irony would be lost, but I believe the novel can still hold it's own. It is an unflinching look into the life of domestic servants of the late Georgian period and challenged the romantacised view of that time proselytized by Austen novels. Lovers and non-lovers of historical fiction will gain so much from this book and I look forward to reading more from Jo Baker in the future.

Rating: ★★★★★