Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty | 1998 | Sebastian Barry | Buy |
| 2 | The Secret Scripture | 2008 | Sebastian Barry | Buy |
| 3 | The Temporary Gentleman | 2014 | Sebastian Barry | Buy |
Barry’s McNulty novels trace a family marked by history’s violence and their own self-destructive tendencies. Eneas McNulty is exiled from his hometown for joining the British forces, Roseanne McNulty writes a secret memoir from inside a psychiatric hospital, and Jack McNulty drinks his way through the Second World War.
Each book is told in Barry’s lyrical prose, and the McNulty family’s misfortunes become a lens for looking at Ireland’s troubled twentieth century. “The Secret Scripture” was adapted into a 2016 film starring Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave.