Cuddy

Winner of the 2023 Goldsmiths Prize

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Cuddy

By: Benjamin Myers

Narrated by: Colin Mace, Hannah Barrie, Jimmy Chisholm, Rowena Gray, Samuel Edward Cook

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Bloomsbury presents Cuddy by Benjamin Myers, read by Colin Mace, Hannah Barrie, Jimmy Chisholm, Rowena Gray and Samuel Edward Cook.

**Shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2023**
**Chosen as a book to watch out for in 2023 by The Times, Observer, Guardian, Irish Times and Scotsman**

'It’s a testament to the cast of five that they manage to unite these apparently disparate elements. The effect as each story gives way to the next is one of history ebbing and flowing, of individuals united by place and past.' FINANCIAL TIMES
‘An epic the north has long deserved’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘A sensational piece of storytelling … A singular and significant achievement’ GUARDIAN
‘Marvellous, artful, enchanted’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
'Cements Myers’s standing as one of our finest, and most deftly imaginative, writers' I NEWS

The triumphant new novel from the Walter Scott Prize-winning author of The Gallows Pole and The Offing

Cuddy is a bold and experimental retelling of the story of the hermit St. Cuthbert, unofficial patron saint of the North of England.

Incorporating poetry, prose, play, diary and real historical accounts to create a novel like no other, Cuddy straddles historical eras – from the first Christian-slaying Viking invaders of the holy island of Lindisfarne in the 8th century to a contemporary England defined by class and austerity.

Along the way we meet brewers and masons, archers and academics, monks and labourers, their visionary voices and stories echoing through their ancestors and down the ages.

And all the while at the centre sits Durham Cathedral and the lives of those who live and work around this place of pilgrimage – their dreams, desires, connections and communities.(P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Benjamin MyersColin MaceHannah BarrieJimmy ChisholmRowena GraySamuel Edward CookBloomsbury Publishing

Fantasy

Magic

Magical Realism

Fantasy Magic Magical Realism

Critic reviews

It’s a testament to the cast of five that they manage to unite these apparently disparate elements. The effect as each story gives way to the next is one of history ebbing and flowing, of individuals united by place and past.

It’s been a while since I’ve reacted as emotionally to a novel ... An epic the north has long deserved: ambitious, dreamy, earthy, dark, welcoming and not ... There are readers like me who will not just enjoy this book but feel deeply grateful for its existence

A polyphonic hymn to a very specific landscape and its people. At the same time, it deepens his standing as an arresting chronicler of a broader, more mysterious seam of ancient folklore that unites the history of these isles as it’s rarely taught

Myers is maturing into a serious writer rather than just a sombre one. Cuddy is an ambitious and accomplished novel that shows it’s not — necessarily — grim up north

There’s much to enjoy in the novel’s linguistic beauty ... Cuddy explores the endurance of goodness and grace

A sensational piece of storytelling … The symbiosis of poetry and story, of knowledge and deep love, marks out Cuddy as a singular and significant achievement

Mesmerising, lyrical ... Stands in a genre of its own ... Serves as a reminder that we are but custodians of a world we inherited. Cuddy cements Myers’s standing as one of our finest, and most deftly imaginative, writers

Myers traces … the manifold threads of history to remarkable effect

The cathedral is a wonder … in its elegance and grotesquery, its shimmering and its solidity, Myers captures it accurately. Indeed, that could be a description of his book

As a work of literature and as a tribute to a man and his region, it will endure

Marvellous, artful, enchanted ... With power and pathos, this novel follows the cult of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne from the 7th century to the present day

Brave, bold and brilliantly alive, Cuddy calls forth the voices and the places of the north in a kaleidoscopic portrait through time. Myers at his best: dark, sharp, earthy and superbly funny. Cuddy isn’t a novel, it’s an invocation (ROB COWEN, author of Common Ground)

Spare, poetic, haunting, tenderly observed ... Myers is a natural storyteller ... [with] a poetic sensibility, and as a writer he enjoys the snap and crunch of words, and the way they can summon an atmosphere

A wonder ... An accomplished and very moving novel

Myers chisels a cohesive and engaging portrait of a place laden with history

An absorbingly beautiful book ... There aren't many writers as attuned to the present state of this country and the history and landscape that made it as Myers, who succeeds repeatedly in harnessing time with compassion, kindness and a rare gift for finding the right voice for the right people in the right era

Most relevant

Four beautifully narrated and captivating tales which span centuries and cleverly interlink. It will make you want to visit Durham cathedral