Double Costa Book Award-winning Irish novelist Sebastian Barry’s new novel Old God’s Tale is set on Dalkey Island during the 1990s, with flashbacks going back to the 60s and 70s. Main character Tom Kettle, a recently retired police officer, is a likeable, lonely widower leading an uncomplicated life in a shabby annex flat attached to a Victorian castle on a stretch of coastline.
Two of Kettle’s Garda ex-colleagues visit him out of the blue to ask him for help with a case: a priest, who had escaped facing the justice system for historic abuse due to institutional coverups, is now facing prosecution. Kettle offers his help, but as the investigation progresses finds his peaceful existence in jeopardy on various fronts. What becomes apparent is that Kettle is a survivor of past traumas himself, with the new investigation triggering some painful memories – but which of them are actually true? Disclosure comes as Old God’s Time reaches its devastatingly powerful finale.
This is a heartbreaking read, one which not only shines a light on institutional, shamefully suppressed abuse, but on grief, survival and immortal love – with Sebastian Barry’s beautifully expressive prose as affecting as ever.
Old God’s Time, Sebastian Barry (Faber)
Price: £16.99. Info: here
words DAVID NOBAKHT
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