Days Without End/Sebastian Barry

It was Roy Hodgson, the former England manager, who was the recommender of Sebastian Barry.

I had really enjoyed The Secret Scripture – the story of a woman who was unfairly locked up in a mental asylum.

Apparently in catholic Southern Ireland this was not a difficult process and made by a priest not a doctor.

Another educated friend of mine, with whom I have an irregular dinner mainly concentrating on the arts, recommended Days without End by the same author.

It’s the story of Thomas McNulty, a Sligo lad and American immigrant, who enlists in the US Army with his close pal John Cole and fights first in the Indian Wars then the Civil War.

It is almost relentlessly grim as he suffers from the severe cold, wounds and butchery.

Along the way Cole and he adopt an Indian squaw called Winona.

Cole and McNutly have a curious relationship. Early in the novel, dressed up as women, they feature in a dance club, they become lovers and get married.

The ending if not exactly upbeat ,  does not follow the grimness of the novel.

It sets up a sequel – A Thousand Moons – where Winona takes over the narration.

As the narrator Thomas sometimes uses slang which is not always easy to comprehend. It might have made a better film than a novel – one of those elegiac westerns with the  type of violence beloved by Sam Peckinpah in Soldier Blue.  

It’s best feature is the quality of the descriptive writing but it’s not a novel to give you much cheer in the festive period.