The history of modern Ireland is told through the eyes of an ancient woman wrongfully committed to an insane asylum when she was young, and of a psychiatrist tasked with assessing whether she can return to the community, the asylum having been slated for demolition. And the secrets revealed page by page offer startling insights into the soul of two seemingly ordinary people (who are anything but ordinary) and of a nation, which at several crossroads in the last century took turns that haunt the Irish people. Sebastian Barry's novel, short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, is a suspenseful and surprising take on the ways in which political history impinges on the personal.

Also, Irish playwright and novelist Sebastian Barry chats with World Books editor Bill Marx Listen (mp3) Check out the World Books blog