Sebastian Barry in Madison and New Haven

REVIEW

Last night, I went down to RJ Julia Books to hear Sebastian Barry read from his new novel The Sacred Scripture, and was mesmerized by Barry's talent, as was the entire audience. Read a sample of The Sacred Scripture here.

I fell in love with Barry's writing when my wife Lucy brought me a copy of his The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, as a gift from her travels in Ireland many years ago. He is a gifted writer who was granted the Irish gifts of language and story.

Barry is in this country because his play, The Pride of Parnell Street is being staged during the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven this week, by the Irish theater company Fishamble. The play sold out its run, and a new show was just added for Saturday evening.

Barry read his story, which is written in the voice of a 100 year old woman who is being moved from the institution she has lived in for decades, after being committed for a problem with "morals."

He explained that it took him months to hear his character's voice, but suggested "if you remain quiet and contemplative enough, these voices will rise up and tell their stories." Barry's reading was theatrical (his theatricality credited to his recently departed mother, an Abbey Theater actress, who was doing television roles until just before her death), as he fell into a lilting Sligo accent (his own Irish accent has been softened, presumably by education, and his time spent in the London theater), and brought to life the remembrances of time lost to a life sequestered behind locked doors. While Barry warned that the story was "dark," both passages he read were colorful, detailed, soaring description of days when his character experienced exalting moments of joy and love.

Barry, a playwright, poet and novelist, explained that many of his works are built around the skeleton of forgotten ancestors. This book is a tribute to the true story of a great aunt. In it, we meet Eneas McNulty again - a great uncle. And Barry's grandfather and great grandfather are at the core of central characters in his successful play The Steward of Christendom, and his novel, A Long, Long Way which was nominated last year for the Booker-Mann prize.

The reading was one of many hosted by Roxanne Coady at her amazing independent bookstore, RJ Julia in Madison.