Sebastian Barry Popular Books
Sebastian Barry Biography & Facts
Sebastian Barry is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2018–2021. Barry has been twice shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novels A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008), the latter of which won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His 2011 novel, On Canaan's Side, was longlisted for the Booker. In January 2017, Barry was awarded the Costa Book of the Year prize for Days Without End, becoming the first novelist to win the prestigious prize twice. Early life and education Barry was born in Dublin. His mother was acclaimed actress Joan O'Hara. One of Barry's grandfathers belonged to the British Army Corps of Royal Engineers. His other grandfather was a painter, a Nationalist, and a devotee of De Valera. He was educated at Catholic University School and Trinity College Dublin, where he read English and Latin. Career Academia Barry's academic posts have included Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa (1984), Heimbold Visiting Professor at Villanova University (2006) and Writer Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin (1995–1996). Works Barry's first literary publication was the novel Macker's Garden in 1982. His first play, The Pentagonal Dream, starred Olwen Fouéré and debuted in the Damer Theatre in March 1986. This was followed by several books of poetry and a further novel, The Engine of Owl-Light in 1987, before his career as a playwright began with his first play produced in the Abbey Theatre, Boss Grady's Boys, in 1988. Barry's maternal great-grandfather, James Dunne, provided the inspiration for the main character in his most internationally known play, The Steward of Christendom (1995), which won the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the Lloyd's Private Banking Playwright of the Year Award and other awards. The main character, named Thomas Dunne in the play, was the chief superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police from 1913 to 1922. He oversaw the area surrounding Dublin Castle until the Irish Free State takeover on 16 January 1922. Both The Steward of Christendom and the novel The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998) are about the dislocations (physical and otherwise) of loyalist Irish people during the political upheavals of the early 20th century. The title character of the latter work is a young man forced to leave Ireland by his former friends in the aftermath of the Anglo-Irish War. His novel A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize, and was selected for Dublin's 2007 One City One Book event. The novel tells the story of Willie Dunne, a young recruit to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers during the First World War. It brings to life the divided loyalty that many Irish soldiers felt at the time following the Easter Rising in 1916. Willie Dunne, son of the fictional Thomas Dunne, first appears as a minor but important character in The Steward of Christendom. Barry's 2008 novel The Secret Scripture won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction (announced in August 2009), the oldest such award in the UK, the 2008 Costa Book of the Year (announced 27 January 2009), and (in French translation Le testament caché) the 2010 Cezam Prix Littéraire Inter CE. The Secret Scripture was also a favourite to win the 2008 Man Booker Prize, narrowly losing out to Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger. Barry's play Andersen's English is inspired by children's writer Hans Christian Andersen coming to stay with Charles Dickens and his family in the Kent marshes. Directed by Max Stafford-Clark and produced by Out of Joint and Hampstead Theatre, the play toured in the UK from 11 February to 8 May 2010. Our Lady of Sligo was directed in 1998 by Max Stafford-Clark at the Royal National Theatre, co−produced by Out of Joint. On Canaan's Side, Barry's fifth novel, concerns Lily Bere, the sister of the character Willy Dunne from A Long Long Way and the daughter of the character Thomas Dunne from The Steward of Christendom, as she emigrates to the US. The novel was longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize and won the 2012 Walter Scott Prize. Barry's next novel, The Temporary Gentleman (2014), tells the story of Jack McNulty—an Irishman whose commission in the British army in WWII was never permanent. Sitting in his lodgings in Accra, Ghana, in 1957, he is writing the story of his life with desperate urgency. Barry's novel Days Without End followed in 2016. It won Costa Book of the Year 2017, the Walter Scott Prize, and The Independent Booksellers' Prize, and was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. Barry's 2023 novel, Old God’s Time, was shortlisted for the 2024 International Dublin Literary Award and longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize. Personal life Barry lives in County Wicklow with his wife, actor and screenwriter Alison Deegan. In 2001, Barry established his personal and professional archive at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin. More than 60 boxes of papers document his diverse writing career and range of creative output, which includes drawings, poetry, short stories, novels, essays, and scripts. Recognition and awards Barry has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of East Anglia (2010), NUI Galway (2012), and the Open University (2014). He has an Alumni Award from Trinity College, Dublin, and in 2022 was made an honorary fellow of Trinity College. List of works Poetry The Water Colourist (Dolmen Press, 1983) The Rhetorical Town (Dolmen Press, 1985) Fanny Hawke Goes to the Mainland Forever (Raven Arts Press, 1989) Fiction Macker’s Garden (1982) The Engine of Owl-Light (1987) The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998) Annie Dunne (2002) A Long Long Way (2005) The Secret Scripture (2008) On Canaan's Side (2011) The Temporary Gentleman (2014) Days Without End (2016) A Thousand Moons (2020) Old God's Time (2023) Plays The Pentagonal Dream (1986) Boss Grady's Boys (1988) Prayers of Sherkin (1990) White Woman Street (1992) The Only True History of Lizzie Finn (1995) The Steward of Christendom (1995) Our Lady of Sligo (1998) Hinterland (2002) Whistling Psyche (2004) Fred and Jane (2004) The Pride of Parnell Street (2008) Dallas Sweetman (2008) Tales of Ballycumber (2009) Andersen's English (2010) On Blueberry Hill (2017) References External links Sebastian Barry Papers at the Harry Ransom Center Biography at the British Council Short biography from the Berlin International Literature Festival. Discover the Sebastian Barry popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Sebastian Barry books.
Best Seller Sebastian Barry Books of 2024
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Home of the Gentry
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev & Richard FreebornOn one level the novel is about the homecoming of Lavretsky, who, broken and disillusioned by a failed marriage, returns to his estate and finds love again only to lose it. The se...
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Youth
Joseph Conrad'Then, on a fine moonlight night, all the rats left the ship.'Five men sit around a mahogany table, drinking claret. As the wine loosens their tongues, one tells a story from his y...
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Set Fire To Sicily
Jane HeritageMarcello D'Estari, bastard son of a nobleman and a courtesan, is the most effective, most unmanageable and most amorous of the spies of the Venetian Republic.To safeguard its posit...
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The Professor
Charlotte Brontë & Heather GlenThe hero of Charlotte Bronte's first novel escapes a dreary clerkship in industrial Yorkshire by taking a job as a teacher in Belgium. There, however, his entanglement with the sen...
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A Journal of the Plague Year
Daniel Defoe & Christopher Bristow'The most reliable and comprehensive account of the Great Plague that we possess' Anthony Burgess In 1665 the plague swept through London, claiming over 97,000 lives. Daniel Def...
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Temps immemorials
Sebastian BarryUna novel·la extraordinària sobre la memòria, l'amor, el misteri i els comptes pendents amb el passat. El policia retirat Tom Kettle gaudeix de la tranquil·litat de la seva no...
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The Saga of the Volsungs
Jesse ByockPart of a new series Legends from the Ancient North, Beowulf is one of the classic books that influenced JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings'So the company of men le...
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Castle Rackrent and Ennui
Maria Edgeworth & Marilyn ButlerThady Quirk, devoted steward to the decaying estate of the Rackrent family, narrates a riotous story of four generations of a dying dynasty in Castle Rackrent (1800). Thady will de...
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The Diary of a Provincial Lady
E.M. Delafield'January 22nd Robert startles me at breakfast by asking if my cold which he has hitherto ignored is better. I reply that it has gone. Then why, he asks, do I look like that? Fee...
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Positively Yours
Amanda HeartyBeth Prendergast has fallen hook, line and sinker for her boss. But when Beth discovers she is pregnant he makes it clear that a baby was never part of his plan. Is Beth really rea...
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The Penguin Book Of Spanish Verse
Penguin Books Ltd'You have dark eyes. Gleams there that promise darkness'. Spanish poetry is astonishing in its richness and variety. This anthology covers the two great flowerings of Spanish verse...
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A Passion For Trees
Maggie Campbell-CulverGiven the extent of his influence on 17thcentury life, and his lasting impact on the British landscape it is remarkable that no book has been written before about John Evelyn. He w...
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Imaginings Of Sand
André BrinkTHE BOOK: A narrative counterpoint between two women, two South Africas. Kristien Muller returns from London to her homeland to fulfil a promise. Her grandmother lies on her deathb...
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A Step From Cinnamon Alley
Patricia BurnsA magical love story and a richly detailed evocation of a great city.1909, and life is hard for young Poppy Powers. Her dad has disappearedgone to a season in the North somewhere a...
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A Country of Eternal Light
Paul DalgarnoAn astonishingly inventive, playful, witty, poignant and deeply moving novel from one of Australia's most exciting writers. Shortlisted for THE AGE BOOK OF THE YEAR and THE REA...
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Romola
George Eliot & Dorothea BarrettOne of George Eliot's most ambitious and imaginative novels, Romola is set in Renaissance Florence during the turbulent years following the expulsion of the powerful Medici family ...
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Bel-ami
Guy de Maupassant & Douglas ParmeeYoung, attractive and very ambitious, George Duroy, known to his friends as BelAmi, is offered a job as a journalist on La Vie francaise and soon makes a great success of his new c...
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Chess
Stefan Zweig'... a human being, an intellectual human being who constantly bends the entire force of his mind on the ridiculous task of forcing a wooden king into the corner of a wooden board,...
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The Mango Orchard
Robin BayleyAs a child, Robin Bayley was enchanted by his grandmother's stories of Mexican adventures: of bandits, wild jungle journeys, hidden bags of silver and a narrow escape from the bloo...
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The Secret Scripture
Sebastian BarryNow a major motion picture starring Rooney MaraAn epic story of family, love, and unavoidable tragedy from the twotime Booker Prize finalist and author of Old God's Time Sebastian...
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Fallen
Lia MillsFallen by Lia Mills a remarkable love story amidst the ruins of the First World War and the Easter RisingSpring, 1915. Katie Crilly gets the news she dreaded: her beloved twin bro...
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Inishowen
Joseph O'ConnorFrom the bestselling author of Star of the Sea and Shadowplay, 'a powerful, moving adventure of raw fate and betrayed love' (Independent on Sunday).Inspector Martin Aitken's life i...
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The Earth
Émile ZolaWhen Jean Macquart arrives in the peasant community of Beauce, where farmers have worked the same land for generations, he quickly finds himself involved in the corrupt affairs of ...
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The Incredulity of Father Brown
G. K. ChestertonThe third volume of stories featuring the cunning clerical sleuth Father Brown. Ahead of a new series of the popular BBC adaptation starring Mark Williams, all five of Chesterton's...
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Out of History
Christina Hunt MahonyOut of History is the first book to appear on the work of awardwinning Irish author Sebastian Barry. Barry is recognized as one of Ireland's greatest living writers and his works n...
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The Forsyte Saga
John GalsworthyIn this second part of John Galworthy's trilogy of love, power, money and family feuding, a new generation has arrived to divide the Forsyte clan with society scandals and conflict...
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The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman
Angela CarterDesiderio, an employee of the city under a bizarre reality attack from Doctor Hoffman's mysterious machines, has fallen in love with Albertina, the Doctor's daughter. But Albertina...
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The Beautiful and Damned
F. Scott FitzgeraldAnthony and Gloria are the essence of Jazz Age glamour. A brilliant and magnetic couple, they fling themselves at life with an energy that is thrilling. New York is a playground wh...
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Days Without End
Sebastian BarryCOSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERLONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 MAN BOOKER PRIZE"A true leftfield wonder: Days Without End is a violent, superbly lyrical western offering a sw...
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The Children Of Dynmouth
William TrevorThe Children Of Dynmouth a classic prizewinning novel by William TrevorPenguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. The 1970s was a decade of anger and d...
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Miss Marjoribanks
Margaret Oliphant & Elisabeth JayReturning home to tend her widowed father Dr Marjoribanks, Lucilla soon launches herself into Carlingford society, aiming to raise the tone with her select Thursday evening parties...
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Child of All Nations
Irmgard KeunKully knows some things you don’t learn at school. She knows the right way to roll a cigarette and pack a suitcase. She knows that cars are more dangerous than lions. She knows you...
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The Stornoway Way
Kevin Macneil‘Fk everyone from Holden Caulfield to Bridget Jones, fk all the American and English phoney fictions that claim to speak for us; they don’t know the likes of us exist and they neve...
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To Sing of War
Catherine McKinnonFrom the author of the Miles Franklin Award shortlisted Storyland, comes a rich, layered and thrilling novel of love, war and friendship, To Sing of War.December 1944: In New Guine...
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The Awkward Age
Henry James & Ronald BlytheMaking her debut in London society, Nanda Brookenham is being groomed for the marriage market. Thrust suddenly into the superficial and immoral circle that surrounds her mother, th...
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Cranford
Elizabeth GaskellThe formidable Miss Deborah Jenkyns and the kindly Miss Matty live in a village where women rule and men usually tend to get in the way. Their days revolve around card games, tea, ...
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The Warden
Anthony TrollopeThe first book in Anthony Trollope's Barchester Chronicles is a moving, insightful exploration of moral dilemmas fought in public and private. ...
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Evelina
Frances BurneyWith entries from the diary of Fanny Burney.'O Sir, how much uneasiness must I suffer, to counterbalance one short morning of happiness!'In this comic and sharply incisive satire o...
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Hanging with the Elephant
Michael Harding'A compelling memoir. Absorbing and graced with a deceptive lightness of touch, [Hanging with the Elephant] is clever and brilliantly pieced together. Harding writes like an angel'...
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A Thousand Moons
Sebastian Barry“A brave and moving novel [that] has a tender empathy with the natural world.” Hermione Lee, The New York Review of BooksFrom the twotime Booker Prize finalist author of&...
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The Enchanted April
Elizabeth Von Arnim'This delicious confection will work its magic on all' Daily TelegraphThe discreet advertisement in The Times, addressed 'To Those who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine', offers a ...
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The Gobbler
Adrian EdmondsonJulian Mann, the hard drinking, preening, and sexually provocative star of the TV sitcome Richard the Nerd, feels caught on the horns of a dilemma: should he be concentrating on hi...
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Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoyevsky & Oliver Ready'A truly great translation . . . This English version really is better' A. N. Wilson, The SpectatorTIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2014This acclaimed new translation o...