A Very Good Read

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
Roseanne McNulty is almost 100 years old. For most of her adult life she has been a patient in Roscommon Mental hospital in rural west Ireland. The hospital is going to be shut down and she is facing an unsure future. In the weeks leading up to the hospital’s closure she has frequent talks with her therapist/psychiatrist. His job is to determine what to do with the patients. He is a gentle, understanding man who is doing his best for his wards. He must decide which patients were wrongfully committed for reasons other than mental instability, and which ones are fit to re-enter the world or adapt to modern mental homes.
Roseanne has a journal of her life which she keeps hidden under the floorboards of her room. It is through this journal that we learn about her story. She had a loving relationship with her father but her mother distanced herself from her daughter, and when her father died she was alone.
Young pretty Roseanne fell in love with a young Catholic man. His domineering mother did not approve of her son having a relationship with a Presbyterian. Cruel Father Gaunt was of the same mind, he made sure that Roseanne did not marry the man she loved. The priest’s misogyny, mistrust and dislike for women was Roseanne’s downfall. He condemned her just for talking to a man other than the one she had been forced to marry. Gaunt declared her an adulteress and she was imprisoned in the mental hospital.
Ireland's history comes into play, as does the sanctimonious hypocrisy of the Catholic church who "put away" those who were different, unmarried pregnant girls who had been abused (often by a relative), those who were sexual or deemed "loose". A priest’s word was law back then and anyone they didn't approve of was removed from society. As a result, tragedy, cruelty and prejudice ensued. I hope there is a special place in hell reserved for people like them.
The story went back and forth from 1907 - 2007 but not in a confusing way, if anything it made Roseanne's story more poignant. I could feel her loneliness and pain. My heart ached for this gentle soul left abandoned. There was something quite beautiful in her ability to sit with her loss and loneliness and forgive those who wronged her.
I cried.
This is a gem of a book, beautifully written. 

~Happy Reading ~

Polly x