Katharine Tiernan
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: A Tale of St Cuthbert’s Last Journey.
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.
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Place of Repose: St Cuthbert’s Last Journey
Paperback £12.99
ISBN: 978-1-78959-078-4A tale of violence and intrigue, revenge and reconciliation – and of true love lost and found. Set in the ninth century at the time of the Viking invasions, Place of Repose follows the flight of St Cuthbert's monks from Lindisfarne and their turbulent journey in search of a new home for the saint.
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Cuthbert of Farne: A novel of Northumbria’s warrior saint
Paperback £12.99
ISBN: 978-1-78959-009-8The first historical novel about Cuthbert, much-loved saint of the North, a one-time warrior whose destiny it was to reconcile the warring parties in the early English Church.
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A New Heaven and a New Earth: St Cuthbert and the Conquest of the North
Paperback £12.99
ISBN: 978-1-78959-125-5Caught between the Northumbrian rebels and their brutal new Norman masters, the Community of St Cuthbert at Durham is struggling to survive. The final novel in the Cuthbert trilogy, set at the time of the Harrying of the North, tells the story of the survival of the shrine and the foundation of Durham Cathedral.
Telling Untold History
GUEST BLOG: Writing a novel is like being in lockdown, says author Katharine Tiernan. It feels as if it will never end and then suddenly it’s all picnics and barbecues… After months of struggle redrafting the final section, of long mornings feeling “I can’t write anothe…
Added about 10 months ago. Read More
How to Be a Hermit: Lockdown Lessons from St Cuthbert
St Cuthbert is, of course, the patron saint of self-isolators. He spent eight years on Inner Farne, a small island off the coast of Northumberland, and provides a great example for those new to the practice… Despite Cuthbert’s isolation, he became famous for his saintliness and men…
Added about a year ago. Read More
St Cuthbert’s Last Journey
GUEST BLOG: It is gone eight o’clock on the least-light day of late December, the winter solstice. Katharine Tiernan is standing on the whinstone ridge above Holy Island harbour, waiting for the sunrise… The Heugh, as the ridge is known, is at the landward edge of the Island…
Added about a year ago. Read More
What Bede Didn’t Tell Us: Writing Cuthbert of Farne
GUEST BLOG: St Cuthbert has always been a part of Katharine Tiernan's life, as for so many others growing up in the north-east. But what prompted her to write Cuthbert of Farne? During my childhood in North Northumberland in the fifties and sixties, St Cuthbert was a familiar background pres…
Added about 2 years ago. Read More
From the author's blog
- ‘When sparrows come… 2 months ago
- Bird joy 4 months ago
- No more normal 6 months ago
- Winter days, writing blues 7 months ago
- Cuthbert trilogy: Christmas special! 8 months ago
- Wild Cycling 9 months ago