The Temporary Gentleman (26 page)

Unlike Tom though, I cannot really go home. Mai was my village and my country. Perhaps I may be a kind of exile everywhere, since I have lost her – until I see her again. Maybe then we will have a better chance of peace, and freedom.

I hear the taxi now, turning down into Oiswe Street. It’s coming.

*

Note by Peter Oko, assistant officer, UN, Accra

The tragic abduction, disappearance, and presumed death of Mr John (Jack) Charles McNulty, formerly of the UN, and ex-major of the Royal Engineers, is noted and regretted. It is recommended that this document be NOT sent back to his relatives in Ireland with his other effects due to the confidential nature of some passages. It is therefore recommended that it be kept with his file here at the UN offices. The investigation into the circumstances of his disappearance is being currently undertaken by Inspector Louis Tomelty, trusted member of the Ghana Police Force, Head Office, Accra, to whom all inquiries may be directed hereafter.

Signed: Peter Agymah Oko, PhD (Oxon.)

Acknowledgements

I consulted many immeasurably helpful and inspiring books for the writing of this novel, among them:

That Neutral Island
by Clair Wills, Faber and Faber

UXB Malta
by S. A. M. Hudson, The History Press

Palestine Unveiled
by Douglas V. Duff, Blackie

Fighting for Britain: African Soldiers in the Second World War
, by David Killingray, James Currey

Sligo, The Irish Revolution, 1912–23
, by Michael Farry, Four Courts Press

Colonial Postscript, Diary of a District Officer, 1935–56
, by John Morley, Radcliffe Press

Nightmare Convoy
, by Paul Lund and Harry Ludlum, Foulsham

Geology of the Karakoram and Hindu Kush
, edited by Susumu Matsushita and Kazuo Huzita, Kyoto University

And other material, notably an essay:

The Political Meaning of Highlife Songs in Ghana
, by Sjaak van der Geest and Nimrod K. Asante-Darko, South African Studies Review, Vol 25, No. 1.

The lyrics on page 57 are found in this essay, an English translation by Mr Asante-Darko of the original song in Twi, ‘Nsuo beta a, mframa di kan’, by the great Highlife artist E. K. Nyame.

The lyrics on page 22 from ‘Ghana Freedom Highlife’ by E. T. Mensah © RetroAfric, are courtesy of RetroAfric Music Publishing

About the author

Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. His novels and plays have won, among other awards, the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Prize, the Costa Book of the Year award, the Irish Book Awards Best Novel, the Independent Booksellers Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He also had two consecutive novels,
A Long Long Way
(2005) and
The Secret Scripture
(2008), shortlisted for the MAN Booker Prize. He lives in Wicklow with his wife and three children.

By the same author

fiction

The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty 

Annie Dunne 

A Long Long Way 

The Secret Scripture 

On Canaan’s Side 

plays

Boss Grady’s Boys  

Prayers of Sherkin  

White Woman Street  

The Only True History of Lizzie Finn  

The Steward of Christendom

Our Lady of Sligo  

Hinterland  

Fred and Jane  

Whistling Psyche  

The Pride of Parnell Street  

Dallas Sweetman  

Tales of Ballycumber  

Andersen’s English  

poetry

The Water-Colourist 

Fanny Hawke Goes to the Mainland Forever

Copyright

First published in 2014
by Faber & Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London
WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2014

All rights reserved
© Sebastian Barry, 2014

Cover design by Faber & Faber Ltd

The right of Sebastian Barry to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

ISBN 978–0–571–27698–1