Catherine Lucy Czerkawska

Catherine Czerkawska is an award-winning novelist, playwright, and non-fiction author whose work has been widely acclaimed by readers. She is best known for her historical and contemporary Scottish fiction, including The Curiosity Cabinet and its companion novel The Posy Ring, as well as The Physic Garden, Bird of Passage, and Ice Dancing. Perhaps her most popular novel, The Jewel, is a meticulously researched portrayal of Jean Armour, the wife of poet Robert Burns—one of the only books to focus on Jean’s life and character rather than on her celebrated husband.

If she had to name a favourite, it would probably be The Amber Heart, an engrossing love story set in nineteenth-century Poland, in a region that is now part of Ukraine. Then, as now, lives were disrupted by the turmoil of the times. In The Last Lancer, a recently reprinted work of non-fiction, Catherine uncovers her own tragic family history that first inspired events in the Amber Heart.

Living in rural Scotland, Catherine works from her 200-year-old cottage, crafting stories rooted in place, history, and human connection. She also maintains a long-running blog under her own name, sharing reflections on writing and the creative life. She is married to an artist and woodcarver, and her son is a video game developer based in Sweden.