Old God’s Time, Sebastian Barry's ninth novel, is set in Dublin in the 1990s and tells the story of a retired policeman who is brought back to help investigate a “cold case”. But this is not a conventional crime novel.

In fact, it’s the kind of novel that refuses to be boxed in. It’s full of contradictions: complex and multi-layered, yet it’s also a page-turner and effortless to read. It’s an examination of memory, love and survival, blacky humourous in places, harrowing in others — but it should probably come with a trigger warning because at its centre is the utterly vile crime of child sexual abuse as carried out by priests in the Catholic Church.

Told in the third person but from the perspective of retired detective Tom Kettle, it examines the idea of rough justice (as opposed to judicial justice). It asks some uncomfortable questions about what happens to survivors when no one is listening.

Tom, a widower, still mourns his beloved wife, June, who was violently and cruelly abused by a priest as a child. His two adult children, Winnie and Joseph, are both dead.

He lives in a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle in Dalkey, an upmarket Dublin suburb, overlooking the Irish Sea. For some nine months, he’s been content to live a quiet life, alone with just his thoughts where “he had grown to love this interesting inactivity and privacy”. But when two young detectives from his old division come knocking at his door, the past comes back to haunt him in ways he had never quite imagined.

The narrative swings between past and present, and sometimes it’s impossible to determine what is real and what is imagined. Tom’s memories, recalled in exacting detail, seem more vivid than his reality, as the line between thoughts and the real world blur.

And while there is a dark undercurrent that pulls Tom along, one that leads to a shocking denouement toward the end, there are lighter moments to provide some relief.

The romance between Tom and June is beautifully told and a real joy to read, but it’s often the witty asides that keep things on an even keel. For example, one of the detectives who comes a-calling is described as “a nice big lump of a young man with a brushstroke for a moustache, a touch Hitlerian if the truth were known”.

He’s also a master at crafting original similes: a ruby necklace is “held tense on her lined neck, like insects on the very point of dispersal”; a meal of frankfurters and mash “lay in his belly like an early pregnancy’; and bed sheets are “so full of nylon they were like an electric storm over Switzerland”.

The novel does traverse some complex psychological territory but Barry handles harrowing issues with great sensitivity and humanity. It takes you on an emotional rollercoaster, from happiness to anger— and back again — and will leave you wrung out at the end. But this is a wonderfully haunting novel that has an important story to tell.

The book begins slowly and perhaps takes a little too long to gather momentum, but it is always entrancing and the reader cannot help but be moved by Tom’s story.

There is no questioning Sebastian Barry as a literary talent. He has the ability to pull you into a novel and twist and turn you with a huge emotional impact. This novel tells the story of retired detective Tom Kettle who for nine months has lived alone in an annex of an old castle by the Irish Sea occasionally catching glimpses of his neighbours . His solitude is broken by two detectives enquiring about an unsolved murder. This sudden arrival awakens within Tom the tragedies of his past reflecting upon his wife June and their two children taking the reader into the darker recesses of his life and mind; what makes this an extraordinary novel is the power behind every action and thought of Tom, the transition between past and present and at times Tom's imagined view of events as the turmoil of the past increases. This is not a comfortable read as it deals with child abuse, the horrendous repercussions and the complicity of the church and the state ( in the past) to allow the perpetrators to go unpunished . Sebastian Barry has created novel that will stay with you- powerful, mesmerising, shocking and very moving until the very last sentence.

The writing is, as always with Sebastian Barry, an absolute joy to read. The subject matter is difficult; what's real for the narrator and what's not is intentionally unclear, possibly due to PTSD hallucinations. Despite all the awful events along the way, the narrator is grateful for the good times, and at peace at the end. A strangely uplifting book.

In the hands of such a brilliant, gifted and accomplished writer as Sebastian Barry, even the darker topics in this alternating tough, tender and touching story positively sing with a chorus of lyrical Irish charm and deep poetic resonance.

It sings of sadness, love, joy, and loss. It speaks of dreams, family, ageing and finding purpose. There are some discordant notes that might challenge us with their call to pay attention and consider closely the themes we are reading about, but the writing itself never jarrs.

It reverberates with wry reflections on life, such as: “Things happened to people, and some people were required to lift great weights that crushed you if you faltered just for a moment. It was his job not to falter. But every day he faltered. Every day he was crushed, and rose again the following morn like a cartoon figure.”

I fell in love with the character of Detective Sergeant Tom Kettle, whose gentle retirement by the sea is interrupted by the appearance of two colleagues requesting his input on a case, and I think you will, too. Barry packs so much into this book that it requires a slower, more reflective approach.

It can be hard to distinguish between the present and the past in places, between reality or dreams and Tom’s mysterious musings. But that is this novel’s magic and strength, the way it weaves the plot so deftly that we’re willingly to suspend belief and make of it what we will.

I haven’t focused too much on the plot but have rather sought to provide a review that’s a reaction from the heart, with reverence for the consummate skill this book reveals in spades. It definitely deserves to be earmarked for literary awards. Grateful thanks to Faber and Faber Ltd and NetGalley for the ARC.

I heard an interview with Sebastian Barry where he was talking about this book and his writing in general and he did say “…I write peculiar books…” While I wouldn’t quite agree with that sentiment, this is not your normal narrative.

The book is told from the perspective of Tom who is a recently retired policeman in Ireland whose peaceful life is disturbed by two young ex-colleagues coming to ask him for help with a case. This causes Tom to look back at painful events in his life. However, as the title suggests, there is uncertainty about time, memory, how we all recall events and how truthful we are to ourselves and others. I found it a bit difficult to read for that reason as it was tricky to follow what was true and what wasn’t but that was, I know, deliberately done.

This book is beautifully written and covers so many important, often harrowing, topics. But it’s also funny at times and the descriptions of how Tom and his wife fell in love were beautiful. Because of the complexity of the narrative, I can’t say I fully enjoyed it but I would recommend it to others, particularly those who enjoy a more poetic read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Set in present day Ireland, we are looking at the faltering memories of Tom Kettle, a long retired policeman, who is content in his retirement, until two former colleagues start asking him questions about a cold case, concerning historic child abuse by members of the Catholic Church in the 1960’s.
Both Tom and his late wife June, both experienced that abuse in their childhood, but instead of keeping such evil in their hearts, turned those feelings around and became good parents and kind, decent members of society. The Policeman want to take Tom’s toothbrush away with them for testing, and this whole affair reopens painful memories that he has done his level best to suppress. A priest , suspected of child abuse was murdered, by person(s) unknown, at the time, another priest has recently been arrested and Tom’s memories will help the case to proceed. But how reliable is his memory, he does appear to be suffering from the early stages of Dementia, he appears to be visited by ghosts of the past, but memories of such a dark past have a way of pushing themselves into the present day and they are causing Tom such confusion, it is unlikely he would ever be fit to give evidence in a court.
A difficult book to review, harrowing , dark and evil, such misery perpetrated upon those so young. I personally found the writing style to be wandering, it frustrated the flow of the narrative, it seemed to take paragraphs to describe events that could have been condensed into a few sentences, but I haven’t read anything from this author before, that maybe his usual way. A book to read and make you angry.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Faber and Faber for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK.

I’ve enjoyed all Sebastian Barry’s books and Old God’s Time is no exception. It’s set in Dalkey, a small coastal town south of Dublin, where Tom, a recently retired policeman is living in a tiny flat annexed to a Victorian castle. One afternoon he was sitting in a sun-faded wicker chair, enjoying a cigarillo, listening to the sound of the sea below. He was quite content to just gaze out, watching the cormorants on the rocks to the left of Dalkey Island, when two of his former colleagues disturbed his peaceful afternoon, asking for his help on a cold case he had worked on. He doesn’t want to, knowing it will open up painful memories he would rather forget.

So this appears to be a detective story, but the main focus is Tom, himself as the narrative reveals in streams of consciousness. It soon becomes clear that his memories are unreliable and for a while I was confused, not knowing what was going on, whether Tom was remembering, or imagining what had happened in his life. It is beautifully written, showing the beauties of the landscape. It takes us right inside Tom’s mind, highlighting the horrors that Tom had experienced both in his childhood and family life as well as in his professional life. The past had not been kind to him. But now it was as though enough time had gone by and it was as if it had never happened; it had receded away into ‘old God’s time’, and Tom didn’t want to reach back into those memories. They were locked away, preserved in the long-ago.

It is a tragic story, not shying away from describing the horrific details of child abuse, nor the despair and sadness as the details of Tom’s family life are gradually revealed. It is a harrowing book, made even more so as I had to read it slowly making sure I fully understood what I was reading, even going back to re-read some passages. It is bleak, but Tom’s story is also one of love and immeasurable happiness, of strength and goodness, alongside grief and pain.

In the sixties, Garda Tom Kettle had tried to arrest two priests for abuse. Fat chance! Now retired, he has the opportunity to reopen the case. Times change and Ireland is no longer under the thumb of the Vatican. Cases of historic abuse are being successfully prosecuted. The older of the two priests is dead, murdered many years ago, but the younger one, Father Byrne, is protesting his innocence. Does Tom have evidence that will ensure a conviction? The answer to that question is difficult to determine because Tom is clearly suffering from some form of dementia and is frequently hallucinatory. To a large extent he seems to live in the past, when his wife and two children were alive, coming back to awareness with a start. He lives in a small flat attached to a castle on the coast, and is periodically confused about his neighbours, including his landlord, the owner of the castle, a young mother and her child, and the man who shoots seagulls.
This is an Irish book, as can be shown by dipping in at random and reading a sentence. The language is so lyrical, so crowded with imagery, that it could not be from any other part of the Anglophone world. Although there is clearly a criminal investigation going on, and secrets being revealed, these are merely a vehicle for the depiction of a life, jigsaw pieces forming Tom’s fragmented world. It is a very powerful portrait, written by an author with a sure command of his medium. For those readers who relish the style it will be a joy to read. For those who seek a crime story, it may disappoint. Balancing it out I get 4.5.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Unfortunately, I just didn't get on well with this book. I loved the premise, and enjoyed the story, but found the manner in which it was told and the writing style to be tiresome. I sat with the book for a while after finishing it, to see if my opinion of it would change but alas no.

Tom Kettle is a retired detective living a quiet life in a small apartment on the side of a castle, when he is asked to provide answers to questions that have arisen in an old murder case. In a story that is only very slowly revealed, we learn about Tom's past, his childhood, his family and abuses perpetrated by members of the Catholic Church's clergy on children. All of this is told in the form of memories, fragmented and jumbled, and interspersed with asides and thoughts as they occur to Tom.

When the reveal does come it is powerful and it is poignant, though the power and the poignancy was somewhat tempered for me by having to go back over several pages and read them again (long passages of text with nary a paragraph in sight).

There were elements of the book that were really interesting - reference is made to Archbishop John Charles McQuaid disposing of photographs of children taken by a known abuser when the police gave them to him. This did in fact happen. The intergenerational nature of trauma is explored (albeit not in depth)..

I'm disappointed I didn't like this book more - perhaps on a second reading, as some reviewers have suggested, it might impress me more - but I'm not sure I could face reading it again. 2.5/5 stars

Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry
Tom Kettle is a retired Irish policeman who lives alone cut off from others. This peaceful life is disturbed by the arrival of two policemen investigating the case of a priest murdered years ago. Tom is forced to face the many demons in his troubled life. He struggles to reconcile what is actually happening or has happened with what he imagines and we too can struggle to ascertain what is the truth.
We become aware of the terrible tragedies in his life and his deep and unswerving devotion to his dead wife. Over the course of the novel these tragedies are revealed and we understand the harrowing story that is Tom’s life. The novel is beautifully written but the subject matter is challenging and I did wonder whether I would have the emotional stamina to cope with the terrible events depicted in its pages.
I would recommend this book to those with the strength to read it but for many the horror held within its pages could prove overwhelming. Many thanks to the author, the publishers and to Net Galley for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.

Tom Kettle is a retired policeman. He lives in an unusual little cottage in the grounds of an old castle near the sea. He knows the names of his neighbours but tends to live a solitary life. Then one morning he receives a visit from two former colleagues. This sets in motion a chain of events that seems unnecessarily cruel.
We learn the truth of Tom’s life and his family as the book progresses. It’s bleak. The fact that he keeps going is testimony to the human spirit, but what this man has had to endure is too much.
At its core the story focuses on the much-publicised scandal of the Catholic Church and its complicity in the widespread abuse of children by priests. The details given here focus on two characters integral to the story, and yet the knowledge that these behaviours were replicated in so many places and over so many years - and were known about but not stopped - is damning.
While the subject matter is truly shocking, at its core this was a profoundly moving tale of love. It showed how people can support one another and find ways to do right. There were passages of description that were incredibly moving, and the vulnerability of Tom at the centre of these stories kept me hooked throughout. I needed some time to compose myself once I’d closed the pages, and there was a sense that the characters left behind would continue their stories.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this before publication.

"He was struck again by the strangeness of people, their mystery, but also their recognisability", so muses Tom Kettle, the central character in Sebastian Barry's 'Old God's Time'. Despite Tom's life involving unimaginable tragedy, and the vagaries of his aging mind and memory, Tom is recognisably and sympathetically drawn by Barry's wonderful prose. It is such a thoughtful, nuanced, tightly drawn story that it is hard to put down once started. Sebastian Barry is a masterful writer and 'Old God's Time' is one of his very best. Special thank you to Faber and Faber Ltd and NetGalley for a no-obligation advance review copy.

This book is so sad and moving, brilliantly written, a deep character study speaking into Ireland's darkness.

Following the stream of consciousness of Tom, we learn about the loneliness of his present life, combined with confusion, all of which is woven into an expert narrative which becomes very immersive.

Triggered by the visit of two policemen from Tom's old place of work, we begin to journey with him into his memories. Tentatively, he approaches his past and we see glimpses of family, a love story, but also pain and darkness.

Tom is asked to provide information into an old case and this precipitates the unravelling of his memories to their tragic, heartbreaking conclusion.

This book is about abuse and it's cover-up. It's about justice and what that means when systems let you down. It's about the repercussions of pain and whether it can ever truly be overcome. And it's about love - for a woman, for protecting the innocence of childhood, and for truth. Beautifully sad.

This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry is a poignant and absorbing story of recently retired Garda Tom Kettle who has taken up residence in the annex of a castle in Dalkey, near Dublin overlooking the sea.

Tom is visited by two guards for some information in relation to an old case that he worked on years ago at the behest of his old colleague and boss Jack Fleming. This encounter triggers a series of memories that Tom feels a pressing need to share.

Old God's Time opens in a light-hearted charming tone with Tom finding ways to cope with the trials of retirement but gently progresses to address more weighty themes following the visit of detectives Wilson and O'Leary.

Sebastian Barry is a proven master storyteller and Old God's Time is another superb classic in-the-making.

A beatifully written, thought provoking read. You can read my full review here https://www.rte.ie/culture/2023/0222/1357260-book-of-the-week-old-gods-time-by-sebastian-barry/

I had to think long and hard about this review. I’ve read some of the previous novels by this author, but this one lost me. Told from the point of view of Tom Kettle, a retired policeman, the writing feels like a stream of consciousness from an extremely unreliable narrator. The timeline jumps around a lot and I was constantly unsure if what I was reading was memory or fantasy. The novel deals with a number of difficult topics involving the Catholic Church. Although there is some beautiful writing and descriptions overall perhaps it was the right novel but at totally the wrong time for me. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

I already know that this is going to be one of my favourite reads of 2023. The only Barry I have read previously is Days Without End which I loved so was excited to read this.

The novel follows Tom Kettle, a recently retired detective who has spent the last 9 months sitting in a wicker chair, smoking cigarillos, and looking out his window at the sea. When two young policemen come to ask him about an old case it stirs up a maelstrom of memory and historic trauma surrounding Tom, his beloved late wife June, and their two children.

This is the kind of writing that I feel like I am always looking for but I find so rarely. Exquisite prose that immediately submerges you into the mind of the narrator - everything else is forgotten. (Only Hilary Mantel, E M Forster, and Kazuo Ishiguro spring to mind writers who can do this).

Tom's grasp on his own memories feels fragile and, as the trauma of his past bubbles closer and close to the surface, you feel yourself desperately trying to cling on to what might be true. We see the effects of this - shifting Tom's perception of time, clouding every interaction he has with his friends and neighbors with uncertainty and a sense of impending threats that may or may not be there.

A beautiful, sad and graceful novel from an author I'll be exploring further.

This is only my second novel by Sebastian Barry, but it has firmly cemented him in my list of favorite Irish authors. This latest offering, Old God’s Time, is utterly captivating, a hauntingly beautiful blend of exquisite prose and finely wrought storytelling. It wooed me, seduced me, then felled me like a sledgehammer.

Set in a small seaside town on the east coast of Ireland, it is the tale of Tom Kettle, a former policeman, whose peaceful retirement is interrupted when he’s contacted regarding an old investigation and reluctantly forced to recall troubled events from his past.

Tom is a wonderfully complex character, drawn in bold, vivid strokes. A man of routines and contradictions, prisoner to a dark, disturbing past and memories of family loved and lost. His inner monologues are rambling to the point of incoherence but filled nonetheless with a curiously compelling potency.

To read Tom’s story is to be transported into a world blurred by the vagaries of memory and shifting lines between imagination and reality. For much of the novel, the narrative thus has a haunting, other-worldly quality, making it hard to pin down its essence.

Until, that is, we reach a point, where the fragments finally coalesce, the lens snaps into focus, and the tragic, ugly truth is laid bare in all its awfulness. This shift, from nuanced to manifest, is absolutely brutal.

I wept. For Tom, and his wife June. For the shared trauma of their childhoods at the hands of the Catholic Church. And for the appalling tragedies subsequently visited upon their lives.

A disturbing, unforgettable story that carries all the hallmarks of a prize winner.

I've been a fan of Sebastian Barry from my late teens, and it's not unusual for me to find myself with a lump in my throat as I even THINK about what I feel is is greatest work, The Steward of Christendom. I originally read that play a good ten years ago, and finally saw it performed at The Gate Theatre last year.

Old God's Time, Barry's new novel which published this week, reminds me a lot of what I loved about that previous play. Both are about older men (both named Thomas or Tom), retired policemen, who are left only with their memories and regrets, feeling misunderstood by the generations who came later. Both lived strictly by their code of conduct, a galvanizing commitment to uphold honor, while trying and failing to protect fiercely their beloved families. While Thomas Dunne from Christendom recounts to himself his ordinary failings and the change in society from his room in a care home, Tom Kettle in Old God's Time is only nine months into retirement, and has not yet had time to consider the hardships and dark secrets that have led him to sit alone in a flat in Dalkey to live out the rest of his days when two policemen call to his door.

The case that the policemen bring to Tom is an old cold case he investigated years ago, of two priests who were moved from parish to parish but never published for the suffering they caused to young people in their care. The details of this case, and memories of others like this, make this a very hard read in places, and unlike Barry's other books which are focused on national and religious identity and cultural memory, Old God's Time is a reckoning with generational trauma in Ireland, with the Catholic Church who brushed over the horrors so many children faced, and all of the people, policemen included, who were told to turn a blind eye.

I don't know if I can say I loved this book like I have others - it does have the most beautiful, joyful and sad way of rendering the world anew that I love from Barry, and it has a slightly different slant to what I love about his stories - but it's one I will have to sit with and think about over time, and is no doubt Barry at the height of his powers.