Irish author Sebastian Barry, known for his richly interwoven narratives spanning multiple generations, has shifted direction on the final installment of his family saga. Initially planning his tenth and concluding novel to focus on his parents’ marriage, Barry ultimately chose to explore a different story after a period of reflection following his father’s death.

Barry’s series, which traces his complex ancestors from the mid-19th century through to the turn of the millennium, was set to culminate in an intimate examination of his parents’ union. He had long envisioned this project as the natural conclusion to the sequence, especially after his mother passed away in 2007. Yet in July last year, Barry communicated a significant change in creative direction. He described a transformation in his feelings about what he needed to express, moving from a previously urgent desire to voice certain truths toward embracing what he called a “strange new beneficent silence.”

Instead of the planned family memoir, Barry’s latest work, “The Newer World,” published recently, centers on Tennyson Bouguereau, a Black freedman navigating life in the post-Civil War American South. Bouguereau is a recurring figure in Barry’s oeuvre, first appearing in “Days Without End,” which won the Costa Prize in 2016. That earlier novel is narrated by Thomas McNulty, based on an Irish ancestor who emigrated during the Great Famine and later fought in the Indian Wars—a character wrestling with the colonial violence he both suffered and inflicted.

“The Newer World” continues this exploration, portraying a diverse, chosen family living on a farm in Paris, Tennessee, just as the nation fractures. Alongside Bouguereau are McNulty and his partner John Cole, Winona—a Lakota girl they have adopted—and Rosalee, Bouguereau’s sister who works as the household cook. Barry’s narrative addresses the brutal realities of the era, including a harrowing sequence in which Rosalee is sexually assaulted by Confederate soldiers.

Through these stories, Barry contrasts the deep familial divisions and exile that mark his Irish characters with the solidarity and refuge found among outcasts in his American narratives. Despite the sanctuary that these chosen families provide, the harsh forces of history continue to encroach, underscoring the fragility of their efforts to create a “paradise” amid violence and upheaval.

Barry has framed his creative process as guided by the presence of his characters, whom he regards as living entities influencing the direction of his work. Though uncertain whether he will return to the novel about his parents, he expressed a sense of relief in focusing on Bouguereau, noting that it has allowed him to defer confronting a deeply personal and difficult subject.

One of Barry’s longtime friends, historian Roy Foster, advised caution regarding a literary examination of the family history, suggesting that attempting to close that chapter creatively might hinder Barry’s ongoing relationship with his past. For now, Barry remains engrossed in his latest work, which continues to expand his exploration of identity, history, and belonging across continents and centuries.