Cuthbert of Farne

Katharine Tiernan is a Northumbrian by birth and spent many childhood afternoons on the shores of Lindisfarne. She studied English Literature at York University and worked as a teacher and community artist. By the turn of the millennium, both Katharine and her Australian husband were hankering for the wide-open spaces of the north and moved back to Northumberland. There she wrote her first novel, Place of Repose.

Cuthbert of Farne sees Katharine return to the Anglo-Saxon world of early Christianity. It reflects her interests in literature, spirituality and the inspirational landscape of the north.

A young Anglo-Saxon warrior lays down his sword to follow a vocation that means leaving behind wealth and position – and women. Cuthbert, the seventh-century Northumbrian bishop and saint, has become the subject of many a legend. Here we see Cuthbert through the eyes of those closest to him: Princess Aelflaed, his daughter in God, and Eata, his Abbot. This is a time of war between the peoples of the North, and with powerful Bishop Wilfrid seeking to impose Roman practices, the Church is in danger of splitting.

Cuthbert longs for the windswept solitude of Inner Farne, when he is summoned back to become the most powerful church leader in the land. Will it be a calling too far for the holy man and reconciler?

This is a moving and powerful historical novel and a must-read for all who love the stories of the Northern saints and want to know more about the earliest days of Christianity in the North.