Assuming you are talking about the book by Sebastian Barry, then yes, I have read it, and I thought it was very good. It was shortlisted for the Booker last year, and won the Costa book of the year earlier this year. There is a bit of a Dickensian coincidence in the book, but it's still a very good story, and beautifully written.

Why do you ask? Have you read it, or are you thinking of doing so? If the latter, then get on and read it !

Thank you, martin_z, for responding with a recommendation. I have been thinking of reading "The Secret Scripture" but have been hesitant because it sounds rather depressing - a "crazy" old lady with haunting memories and all that.

I was just curious about what other readers thought. Yes, I read it and loved it. I could hardly put it down.

So, vannie or anyone, is it as melancholy as it sounds? This time of year I do not think I want to read more Irish pathos, if that is what it is. I cannot get a handle on what to expect from this book. I have heard confusing descriptions. Does it have mystery or supernatural elements? Ordinarily I would not be so particular, but I wonder if I should delay reading it until after the holidays and my nerves have settled down. :)

I would like to read something about Ireland that doesn't revolve around pathos. But if your nerves are a concern at this time of year, (and whose aren't?) then you might want to put it in your January TBR pile. I wish I hadn't figured out the ending so early into the story, but it was still a great read, and I can see why it won the accolades it did. Dust it off in January and give it a go!!

...I would like to read something about Ireland that doesn't revolve around pathos...

Try the trilogy by Brendan O'Carroll: The Mammy, The Chisellers and The Granny. And of course, Angela's Ashes.

vannie, I shall look in my local library for The Secret Scripture. Regarding books set in Ireland, I also seek them out,fascinating reading for me. Have you read 'Ireland' by Frank Delaney, it is really something!.
I loved the first part of 'The Riders' by Tim Winton as it was set in Ireland, when it left and went to the Greek Islands it lost me.
Another really good book set in Ireland was 'Requiem' I have not been able to find the author on google. It is about a very poor Irish family, their daughter is sent to a catholic school for further education at great expense to the family, she has a magical singing voice that flows thru the book in strange ways. Also a great little mystery is included.

I have just collected this book from my local library.

I can't wait to begin!!

First of all I must finish the book that I am reading.

Vannie, I will lodge my thoughts with you after reading.

Junek

Good grief. One of these days I would like to read a cheerful, upbeat book about Ireland.

I refuse to believe that every novel ever based there is unrelentingly grim, and that the people who live in that country are in a permanent state of depression. I am of mixed Irish, Scottish, and English descent. I am confident that there were reasonably happy people in my family tree who lead reasonably satisfactory lives. I don't deny the reality of poverty and suffering, but surely that was not the entire Irish experience!

Rosefolly

Well, the Irish Country Doctor books are not grim. Not Booker material either, but uplifting in a Herriot way.

Rosefolly/Paula, it is not easy thinking of books about Ireland that don't dwell on suffering and doing-down . . . mostly by the English. I think it might be part of the Celtic make-up; they have extremely long folk memories and after a few glasses of the black stuff will sing/sob and tell stories of the wrongs done to them hundreds of years ago. This isn't just poor people. I personally have heard amazing tales of ancestors told by members of the 'Ascendency'.
I have a good Irish friend who has tried to explain that as a young woman growing up in the West of the country, she and her siblings were told by their parents never to question anything, not to ask about what had happened in the past and to accept the teachings of the Church absolutely. She, therefore, knew little about the Irish Civil War . . . the 'in-fighting' and murders that followed the creation of the Free State. She is the first to admit that she cannot/chooses not to dwell on the problems that have come to light concerning the 'Murphy Report' about paedophilia in the Dublin diocese or the scandals of the 'Magdalene Laundries'. On the other hand she did point out to me that Ireland was the land of 'Saints and Scholars'.
I have tried to read Edna O'Brien's books without much enjoyment (they were banned over there when they first came out). You could give Alice Taylor a go. She writes about her early life in County Cork. I think the first one is called To School Through the Fields.
And no, I don't consider myself to be anti-Irish and have many friends from that country and from Ulster. ;-)

rosefolly, I stand with you, and my ancestry is the same. I read a charming book by Marrie Walsh: "An Irish Country Childhood". It was anything but depressing. As well, there are uplifting and inspiring stories of the Irish coming to America and succeeding beyond their wildest dreams, during and after the great famine years in that island nation....