In this unique new novel by Benjamin Myers, the story of Cuddy is retold and reworked to take place over multiple centuries after the saint’s death in 687AD. In fact, most of Cuthbert’s story takes place after his death, when he is exhumed and moved to safety. While his actual life is mostly myth and legend, his posthumous wanderings are points of fact and history. Book two, The Mason’s Mark, carries us forward to 1346. Fletcher Bullard – champion archer, domestic abuser – is off fighting the Scots. When his wife, Eda, meets Francis Rolfe, one of a team of masons engaged in repairing and enhancing Durham Cathedral’s decorative stonework, what occurs will live on in the stone. Cook, Jude (21 August 2019). "The Offing by Benjamin Myers review – poignant story of an unlikely friendship". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 3 January 2020– via www.theguardian.com.

The second section, AD995, was the highlight for me with its beautiful poetic prose. And the AD2019 section is very moving. The AD1827 section felt a bit weaker to me as I read it and I started to think the book might lose a star. But the reality is that I got to the end of the book and couldn’t really justify anything other than the full 5 stars. BENJAMIN: Writing is fun. When I do it, I feel free. Not always, but often. I get to be king of my own kingdom, or at least until the doorbell goes and there’s a parcel to be retrieved from the hedge, or my faithful hound is letting me know that he needs emptying. But inspiration comes from the love of the form, really: if you want to write, ideas will hopefully come. And if they don’t, just log-on to BBC news, buy your local paper or go and sit in a library for a morning: they’re full of endless stories, or at least the seeds of ideas. I want to ask you what’s next but I also don’t want to, as with Ben Myers the surprise is part of the joy of reading. So, if not what’s next, perhaps what’s the book you’d write if there were no limits? The one that makes you think, “Could I?”.Cuddy is another milestone marking Myers’ versatility as a writer. His most ambitious and structurally complex work to date, it’s composed of four discrete “books”, plus a Prologue and an Interlude. The first, in poetic form, follows the “haliwerfolc” who wandered the north for a century after St Cuthbert’s death in 687, devoutly protecting his body from Viking raiders; the second is a potent tale of forbidden desire and revenge set in 1346; the third comprises the diary entries of a pompous, sneering Victorian academic summoned from Oxford to attend one of the many exhumations of Cuddy’s corpse; and the fourth paints a poignant contemporary portrait of austerity Britain and escaping the daily grind. Over them all looms the imposing edifice of Durham Cathedral, built to house Cuddy’s tomb.

Well I was primed by having read and re-read the Brontë sisters’ books, and a number of books about… In 2014 Myers won the Society of Author's Tom-Gallon Trust Award [22] for his short story, 'The Folk Song Singer'. He was runner-up in the same prize in 2018 for his story 'A Thousand Acres Of English Soil'. His poem 'The Path To Pendle Hill' was selected by New Statesman as one of its Poems Of The Year 2015 [23] and work from the same collection were read by Myers on BBC1 programme Countryfile. I knew nothing about St Cuthbert before reading the novel although I was vaguely aware of the Early Christian church and Lindesfarne..This book manages to be about his cult following but to encompass so much more .It touches on amongst other things belief ,on love .on family and on early Christian architecture.The novel moves through time concentrating on a collection of characters who share characteristics through time but are mostly living in the area around Durham Cathedral .We meet an owl eyed boy in modern times who appeared in early historical sections likewise an orphan girl who cooks and provides for our characters is seen accompanying the itinerant passage of St Curhbert’s bones and repeatedly through time until she appears in our own time working in the Durham cathedral tea shop .i loved the way these stories disappeared and returned ,the author is able to change their writing style to match the time period so there is modern story telling towards the end but gothic Victorian In the middle .So clever I really appreciated the intellectual experience of reading it .Having said that don’t let it put you off as it is an easy comfortable read throughout Recipient of the Roger Deakin Award and first published by Bluemoose Books, Myers' novel The Gallows Pole was published to acclaim in 2017 and was winner of the Walter Scott Prize 2018 - the world's largest prize for historical fiction. It has been published in the US by Third Man Books and is currently in development for screen adaptation.But here, in Cuddy, I feel that Myers has excelled himself. Here we have all the poetry and intensity of his writing, all the excellence of his historical fiction and it is all mixed together with some literary experimentation that makes you think Myers is really going places with his writing. Richardson, Hollie; Davies, Hannah J.; Verdier, Hannah; Virtue, Graeme (31 May 2023). "TV tonight: Shane Meadows's first period drama is about the Cragg Vale Coiners". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023 . Retrieved 31 May 2023. Myers, Benjamin (2021). Male Tears. London, UK: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-5266-1134-5. OCLC 1238056757. Myers, Benjamin (2004). John Lydon: PiL, Pistols and anti-celebrity. London: Independent Music. ISBN 0-9539942-7-9. OCLC 56640176. Dan Jones on The Wolves of Winter “The Dogs are in a mud-wrestling match with history and they bring some moves all of their own to the party”

Myers, Benjamin (2006). System of a Down: right here in Hollywood. Church Stretton: Independent Music. ISBN 978-0-9549704-6-8. OCLC 63136435. The Quietus | Features | Baker's Dozen | The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Music: Benjamin Myers' Favourite Music". The Quietus . Retrieved 24 March 2023.a b Myers, Ben (8 July 2011). "My Time Undercover At The News Of The World". Vice. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021 . Retrieved 24 May 2021. Graham Masterton on the Night Warriors Series “I have always been interested in the significance of dreams. What is our brain trying to tell us, as we sleep?” Creamer, Ella (12 July 2023). "Royal Society of Literature aims to broaden representation as it announces 62 new fellows". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 31 July 2023.