The Temporary Gentleman

'One's heart leaps into one's mouth and stays there . . . Exhilarating.'

Barry is an artist of the highest order.

'Both fascinating and moving, The Temporary Gentleman shows Sebastian Barry to be one of our finest novelists - daring, accommodating and humane.'

'I loved Jack and Mai's story, which oozes panache . . . Barry is brilliant on the ways of marriage.'

'This novel is an elegy - not for a temporary gentleman but for his wife . . . Almost as if good writing might have the power to save a marriage or contain the secret of happiness . . . Rare and heart-breaking.'

Told in Barry's flawless prose, it's a book that leaves the reader bruised long after the final page has been, regretfully, turned.