Barry lets his characters reach the promised land

Booker prize nominee Sebastian Barry tells Caroline O’Doherty how grateful he is that the protagonist told her story and guided him as he wrote it down.

On Canaan’s Side. Sebastian Barry Faber and Faber, £13.99; Kindle £9.35

SELF-PRAISE may be no praise but when a quietly-spoken Sebastian Barry suddenly rattles the tea-sippers in a sedate hotel drawing room with an eruption of laughter at a scene from his own latest novel, it is a forgivable offence.