Myers, Benjamin (2005). Green Day: American idiots & the new punk explosion. Church Stretton: Independent Music Press. ISBN 0-9539942-9-5. OCLC 64553821. Dann McDorman on West Heart Kill “In the end, both the detective and the killer must make a choice, whether to act from hate, or from love” 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.

Cuddyis a bold and experimental retelling of the story of the hermit St. Cuthbert, unofficial patron saint of the North of England.Benjamin Myers' "Offene See" ist das Lieblingsbuch der Unabhängigen 2020". Buch Markt. 7 November 2020. The styles of the novels differ and each reader will likely find a different part appeals. The first section is perhaps the most innovative, with prose poetry mixed with a story told from attributed quotes from various sources, ancient and modern, on which Ben Myers has drawn. The latter aspects was one of the book’s highlights for me, but the prose poetry it’s weakest element, albeit one that put Cuddy in dialogue with Letty McHugh’s brilliant Barbellion Prize winning The Book of Hours. As Michael comes to realise, he too is part of never-ending history, ‘one more link in a chain of people … a continuum’ 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.

You'd be right in being confused. I am still confused and I've finished it! But I can recognise that this is a step up from what Myers has written before, and that it will bring him to the attention of people who perhaps haven't read his work before. 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. Tom-Gallon Trust Award | Society of Authors – Protecting the rights and furthering the interests of authors". Society of Authors. Archived from the original on 19 July 2014 . Retrieved 12 August 2014. Myers, Benjamin (2004). John Lydon: PiL, Pistols and anti-celebrity. London: Independent Music. ISBN 0-9539942-7-9. OCLC 56640176. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, because it’s near-perfect, and Ask Dr Mueller: The Writings of Cookie Mueller because it contains dirt, humour and wisdom.

“Most of us get a little plot and headstone if we’re lucky – Cuddy got one of the great architectural wonders of the world built on his head”

There's much to enjoy in the novel's linguistic beauty ... Cuddy explores the endurance of goodness and grace As a journalist he has written about the arts and nature for publications including New Statesman, The Guardian, The Spectator, NME, Mojo, Time Out, New Scientist, Caught By The River, The Morning Star, Vice, The Quietus, Melody Maker and numerous others. The Revd Dr Sarah Foot is Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Oxford, and Dean Designate. And the way that certain characters (eg an owl-eyed boy) and certain motifs (eg wild garlic) echo through the ages makes the sum greater than its sometimes flawed parts. Turning Blue (2016) was described as a "folk crime" novel, and praised by writers including Val McDermid. A sequel These Darkening Days followed in 2017.