Old God's Time

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2024



LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023



THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER

TWICE WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR



A FINANCIAL TIMES, TIMES, AND IRISH TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR



'A masterpiece' Sunday Times

'Stunning' LIZ NUGENT

'Extraordinary' Irish Times





Tom Kettle, a retired policeman, and widower, is settling into the quiet of his new home in Dalkey, overlooking the sea.





His solitude is interrupted when two former colleagues turn up at his door to ask about a traumatic, decades-old case. A case that Tom never quite came to terms with. And his peace is further disturbed when his new neighbour, a mysterious young mother, asks for his help.





A beautiful, haunting novel, in which nothing is quite as it seems, Old God's Time is an unforgettable exploration of family, loss and love.



'A wonderful, brutal, utterly compelling book . . . Barry is the most miraculous writer.' Russell T Davies



'To borrow a word that recurs in its pages, it is stupendous, in the sense that it shocks and astonishes.' Irish Times



Rare indeed are those novels worth cherishing and keeping close. Old God's Time is one of them.' DailyTelegraph



'So captivating . . . it will live long in the minds of its readers.' Independent



WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:

***** 'A beautiful family love story. It will haunt you and break your heart.'



***** 'Deeply felt and so moving. I will be reading this again.'



***** 'A tragic tale beautifully told. Sebastian Barry is one of the great contemporary writers.'



***** 'Absolute perfection in novel form.'



***** 'Deeply tragic. Deeply humorous. Utterly beautiful. I'm in awe.'



***** 'A writer in possession of something divine . just exceptional.'



***** 'Magically transporting . the balance of extreme grief and joy are perfectly expressed.'





Sebastian Barry's book Old God's Time was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10-03-2023



Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. The 2018-21 Laureate for Irish Fiction, his novels have twice won the Costa Book of the Year award, the Independent Booksellers Award and the Walter Scott Prize. He had two consecutive novels shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, A Long Long Way (2005) and the top ten bestseller The Secret Scripture (2008), and has also won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Prize, the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He lives in County Wicklow.



From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Days Without End and The Secret Scripture, and one of our most soulful living writers, Old God's Time is a extraordinary novel about memory, love, mystery and reckoning.