The Newer World with Sebastian Barry
Tue 08 Sep 2026
7:00pm at Bath Elim Church, Charlotte St, Bath BA1 2ND
Book+Ticket includes a ticket with a copy of the book. All tickets include 15% off any books purchased on the night, author talk, Q&A and signing.
Other ways to book:
Email books@mrbsemporium.com, call 01225 331155 or pop into the shop at 14-15 John Street, Bath. BA1 2JL.
We are delighted to welcome Sebastian Barry to Bath for the publication of his new novel, The Newer World.
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Old God’s Time and Days Without End comes a lyrical, visceral novel set in the aftermath of the American Civil War, about what it is to survive, and what might be lost along the way.
Can’t make it to the event? Order a signed and dedicated copy here.
About the book:
An immersive and unforgettable novel of one man’s life in the aftermath of the American Civil War. I knew as I made my way home that there was no home. All the old things… were gone forever.
Against the rapidly shifting landscape of post Civil War America, Tennyson Bouguereau – freed man, devoted brother, nascent singer, conflicted soldier and wanted man – journeys to find meaning and belonging. From the relative safety of home in Tennessee with his sister Rosalee, he is offered the possibility of a whole new life in Nashville, until a surprising trip to Victorian England changes everything. Exquisitely rendered, and with a rich cast of characters, The Newer World is a lyrical, visceral novel about what it is to survive, and what might be lost along the way.
There’s a beautiful looseness to the novel, almost a wildness, the mark of a true, natural storyteller. It’s easily among his best works – KEVIN BARRY
A novel you settle into with a feeling of deep satisfaction, knowing you’re in the company of a master -BENJAMIN WOOD
About the author:
Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. The 2018-21 Laureate for Irish Fiction, his novels have twice won the Costa Book of the Year award, the Independent Booksellers Award and the Walter Scott Prize. He had two consecutive novels shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, A Long Long Way (2005) and the top ten bestseller The Secret Scripture (2008), and has also won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Prize, the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He lives in County Wicklow.