Cuddy by Benjamin Myers – Book Review

This is a novel in four discrete sections, each could even be described as a book in its own right.

The first is in poetic form, and very different in style to what follows. I suspect that it is so different, that it may put off some of guided solely by publisher summaries. It charts the progress of the followers of St Cuthbert who wander north for a hundred years or more after his death in 687.

The type of free verse Myers uses is inspired by early English poetry. I must say, I found it hardwork, and more than once thought of skipping a few pages. But I did stick with it, and would say to those not experienced in reading such verse, to see it as something of an extended prologue. It is clear though, that Cuddy’s story is of legend, it is not one definitive version passed down, but several that differ, as might be expected.

The second section concerns a woman with a vulgar husband who falls in love with one of the masons working on the embryonic cathedral, which sparks the attention more, but it is not until a dramatic interlude that style Myers is renowned for comes about. It concerns the use of the cathedral as a prisoner-of-war camp during the 17th century’s War of Three Kingdoms.

Both the first, and the interlude, are heavily based on actual events.

The strongest section for me, is the third, which comprises the diary entries of a pompous, sneering Victorian academic summoned from Oxford to attend one of the many exhumations of Cuddy’s corpse. Here there Myers trademarks, his dark humour, and his bias for the north.

The north has always appeared a land of coughing chimneys, blotched babies, vile ale, wet wool and cloying clouds, where all is coated with a slick line of grease, and such concepts as aspiration, education and betterment extend to an extra pan-load of dripping of a week’s end.

‘Never the north’, has been my maxim, and it has served me well. I’d take the Mediterranean or Mesopotamia over Manchester, for I am certain there is more life to be found in either.

The last section is contemporary, and is a poignant observation of austerity Britain, specifically the north-east. It is about a young man caring for his dying mother while trying to earn enough money to keep their heads above water. It is a more political Myers, poignant and moving, though not the reason I enjoy his writing so much.

It is an ambitious work, arguably over-ambitious. It features passages of Myers at his very best, and passages where his style and subject is more of an experimentation.

The ‘interlude’, concerning the Scottish prisoners of war, would have benefiited from more explanation, and detail; it coukld be a book in itself, and yet took a handful of pages. I needed to do my own research to fund out something more about it.

It does hold together though, despite its many characters and reprises, due mainly to the imposing structuire of the cathedral, originally built to house Cuthbert’s tomb. It adds so much to the book, grandeur, grotesqueness, and even a very welcome element of the supernatural.