Grace Tierney

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Grace Tierney

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Born
in Ireland
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Member Since
January 2014

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Grace Tierney writes in rural Ireland. Her award winning Wordfoolery blog about unusual English words has been running for 16 years exploring everything from “pooka” to “friggatriskaidekaphobia”.

Grace has serialised three novels on the online reading platform Channillo and published four word history books (print & ebook) - "Words Christmas Gave Us", "Words the Vikings Gave Us", "Words the Sea Gave Us" and “How To Get Your Name In The Dictionary”. She’s an etymology blogger, columnist in her local paper, regular radio contributor, and publishes articles and short fiction. When not writing you’ll find her reading, crafting, or hiking up a hill.

Grace’s favourite eponymous hero is Casanova because his swashbuckling life was so extraordinary,
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Grace Tierney Positive feedback from a reader. My favourite version of that is reading my work aloud and hearing people laugh, at the right places.
Grace Tierney Writing is the best way to learn about writing. Workshops and writing groups help, but writing (and submitting!) is the only way to improve. If you're…moreWriting is the best way to learn about writing. Workshops and writing groups help, but writing (and submitting!) is the only way to improve. If you're keen to write a novel - try www.nanowrimo.org - commit a month to your writing. I do it every year and the community is great.(less)
Average rating: 4.42 · 12 ratings · 5 reviews · 5 distinct works
Words The Vikings Gave Us (...

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 4 ratings2 editions
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Words Christmas Gave Us (Wo...

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings3 editions
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How To Get Your Name In The...

4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings2 editions
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Modern Words with Old Roots

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating
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Words The Sea Gave Us (Word...

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2020 — 2 editions
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The Roman & Turin History of Fiat

Hello,

I’ve been reading up on Latin words and phrases lately. I’ve two more books, at least, to publish in my Wordfoolery series before I reach “Words the Romans Gave Us”, but I couldn’t leave that Latin book behind me when I spotted it second-hand.

Along the way I found the entry for fiat. Now to me the word fiat is either in the expression “ruling by fiat” or it’s a car brand. Nope, there’s more

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Published on February 16, 2026 07:39
The Blue Castle
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A Dictionary of L...
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Time of the Child
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by Niall Williams (Goodreads Author)
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The Roman & Turin History of Fiat

Hello,I’ve been reading up on Latin words and phrases lately. I’ve two more books, at least, to publish in my Wordfoolery series before I reach “Words Read more of this blog post »
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The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
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The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness
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This book in the series follows Diana as she discovers her father’s family, in a town touched by the Salem Witch trials, and new magical talents. Less Matthew but we do see more of their twins (now age 7) and get a marvellous heist involving her eleg ...more
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Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness
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4.5 This book in the series follows several paths - Phoebe becoming a vampire, Marcus telling the story of his own conversion (amongst American and French revolutionaries- my favourite part), Diana and Matthew coping with their twin toddlers. A good ...more
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Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness
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4.5 This book in the series follows several paths - Phoebe becoming a vampire, Marcus telling the story of his own conversion (amongst American and French revolutionaries- my favourite part), Diana and Matthew coping with their twin toddlers. A good ...more
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A Dictionary of Latin Words and Phrases by James Morwood
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The Hamely Tongue by James Fenton
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A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay
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Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness
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The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey by Patrick O'Brian
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Sad to say goodbye but glad to have these final three chapters with good intro and afterword. Probably only of interest to true fans of the series, but if you’ve read any of the series and aren’t a true fan, what are you doing?
More of Grace's books…
Kate Atkinson
“Fine,’ she said, using the universal Scottish word for every state of being from ‘I’m dying in anguish’ to ‘I’m experiencing euphoric joy.’ ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘I’m fine.”
Kate Atkinson, When Will There Be Good News?

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