Abstract: Nearing her 100th birthday, Roseanne McNulty faces an uncertain future, as the Mental hospital where she's spent most of her adult life prepares for closure. Over the weeks leading up to this upheaval, she talks often with her psychiatrist Dr Grene. This relationship, guarded but trusting after so many years, intensifies as Dr Grene mourns the death of his wife. Told through their respective journals, the story of Roseanne's family in 1930s Sligo emerges. Refracted through the haze of memory, Roseanne's story becomes an alternative, secret history of Ireland. It is the story of a life blighted by maltreatment and ignorance, yet still marked by a flame of love, passion and hope.