The Temporary Gentleman

February 24, 2014
The latest novel from Barry (The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty) is a lyrical but ironic period story. Jack McNulty (Eneas’s younger brother), of Sligo, Ireland, first appears during WWII, as a soldier in Britain’s army, en route to Africa and admiring a peaceful sea, moments before a submarine torpedoes his ship. When we next see him, in 1957, Jack is living in self-imposed exile in Ghana, recalling his days as a soldier and civil servant, and as a suitor, lover, and husband to the haunting and haunted Mai Kirwan. Jack courts Mai avidly; then, after they marry, he gambles away her inheritance and allows creditors to take their house. Having left his two daughters in Ireland, Jack finds a close companion in Ghana: his houseboy, Tom Quaye. Jack must flee the country, however, after a drunken night out with Tom that ends in violence. Even while preparing to leave, Jack’s thoughts return to the past: helping his mother research their family’s history, defusing unexploded German bombs in England, and working as both a U.N. observer and a gunrunner in Africa. With this complex portrait of a man rooted in his hometown but drawn into a wider warring world, Barry again proves himself a prose artist and a skilled navigator of the rocky shoals of modern morality and Irish heritage.

Narrator Frank Grimes brings to life the engaging story of a romantic, somewhat alcoholic Irish engineer who lends his skills to the British war effort. In this third Jack McNulty novel, Grimes is convincingly hopeful when the protagonist feels so; perhaps even more importantly, his delivery of McNulty's frequent cynicism and discontent is sure to stay with listeners. The emotions related through Grimes's Irish lilt leave little room for disbelief; in fact, it's not difficult for one to simply accept that this is Grimes's own story. This intimacy gives listeners the sense of trailing McNulty through the painful wreckage of his life, and this, more than anything else, is Grimes's most important accomplishment. N.J.B. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine


Narrator Gerard Doyle's sonorous voice provides the perfect complement to Sebastian Barry's story of an Irishman who was awarded the status of "temporary gentleman" along with his commission in the British Army during WWII. Here he looks back on his life from the vantage point of a solo existence in Ghana in 1957. Barry's lyrical writing is in striking contrast to the brutal life lived by his main character, Jack McNulty, a man whose gambling debts and inattention to his family destroyed the spirit of his lovely wife. Doyle's narration highlights both the peaks and valleys of McNulty's tumultuous life, making this a powerful listening experience. J.L.K. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine