Historical Setting: Monkwearmouth, 794 C.E. The grieving girl tells her story. “The Christmas bells rang just then, same as when he was born that night when them nuns called me “Mary.” That baby were then, warm and wide-eyed, wiggling and wriggling alive; such a sweet babe he were. But then, the bells ring andContinue reading “#76.4 Thursday, January 8, 2026”
Category Archives: Historical Fiction
#76.3 Wednesday, January 7, 2026
Historical Setting: Monkwearmouth, 794 C.E. The young woman slipped out of the chains and she could have leapt from the tower to her certain death, but apparently, she chose to run toward the river. I’m following the tracks in the snow. The rising sun flushes the sky behind me in the fresh light of aContinue reading “#76.3 Wednesday, January 7, 2026”
#76.2 Tuesday, January 6, 2026
Historical Setting: Monkwearmouth, 794 C.E. I follow the Reverend Mother to the tower entryway. The arch is just the right height for the Reverend Mother to pass through, but I have to bend down. There is hardly enough light to see the steps immediately before us. This wooden structure of stairs and precarious landings creaksContinue reading “#76.2 Tuesday, January 6, 2026”
#76.1 Thursday, January 1, 2026
Historical Setting: Monkwearmouth, 794 C.E. Is this a magical time of year because of the particular songs and stories? I don’t think the season that Christians call the Christ Mass is sacred simply by edict or calendar. Now is when the sun begins a new light overtaking old darkness. There is no papal edict toContinue reading “#76.1 Thursday, January 1, 2026”
#75.14 Weds., December 31, 2025
Historical Setting: Monkwearmouth, 793 C.E. The Reverend Mother, asks me how I know this woman I brought here to them. “The guards rescued her from the sea and I went down to help them but I don’t know her.” “We know her here. Last winter she came to us in labor and theContinue reading “#75.14 Weds., December 31, 2025”
#75.13 Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Historical Setting: Monkwearmouth, 793 C.E. The Christmas story is when the poor and weak are lifted up and the proud and powerful are cast down. It was the story Jesus was born into. And this too is that story. I take the bones of the near drown girl to the Reverend Mother of Monkwearmouth. SheContinue reading “#75.13 Tuesday, December 30, 2025”
#75.12 Thursday, December 25, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. Some rise early for the mass. At Monkwearmouth the antiphons will be sung by the women’s choir this morning for this feast day celebrating the Christ birth. The guards dressed as monks have their shift change at first light, so it isn’t just the monks stumbling through the Jarrow hallsContinue reading “#75.12 Thursday, December 25, 2025”
#75.11 Weds., December 24, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. The librarian, Brother Wilbert, said the sounds of the people’s celebration of the season escaped these guest quarters again and danced among the snows of the cold December night, then music-ed up and down the halls of the monks’ quarters sending shudders of worldly drunkenness throughout the holy chambers. Now,Continue reading “#75.11 Weds., December 24, 2025”
#75.10 Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. Tonight, I hear the ruckus down the hall as the soldiers, incognito as monks, shift their vigils: two go out and two return with shivers, welcomed by the third pair ready with the ale and the songs of the Christ birth. Even this seasonal welcome with ale is a traditionContinue reading “#75.10 Tuesday, December 23, 2025”
#75.9 Thursday, December 18, 2025
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 793 C.E. Librarian Wilbert and probably others too, found the night’s noise from the special “guests” annoying. “This is a sacred season. It is the Christ’s birth, and there those fellows are bearing down on us with all that Pagan noise. They might as well be Vikings for all the disruption.”Continue reading “#75.9 Thursday, December 18, 2025”
Lazarus Ink 