Old God's Time

LONG LISTED FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZE

“You should be reading Sebastian Barry. [He] has a special understanding of the human heart.” —Adam Begley, The Atlantic

“Combining verbal exuberance and narrative intricacy, Barry reimagines the hauntings of Irish history.” —Giles Harvey, The New Yorker

“This is an unforgettable novel from one of our finest writers.” —Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain

From the two-time Booker Prize finalist, a dazzlingly written novel exploring love, memory, grief, and long-buried secrets

Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea. For months he has barely seen a soul, catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door. Occasionally, fond memories return, of his family, his beloved wife June and their two children, Winnie and Joe.

But when two former colleagues turn up at his door with questions about a decades-old case, one which Tom never quite came to terms with, he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past.

A beautiful, haunting novel, in which nothing is quite as it seems, Old God's Time is about what we live through, what we live with, and what may survive of us.