![]() |
Pre-order ebook or buy paperback: http://mybook.to/heathcliff
|
Sue. Welcome. What an innovative idea – it’s bound
to be a success. Who doesn’t want to know what happened to Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë for
the three years that he disappeared from the book?
Tell us just a little about your new book Heathcliff.
My book begins
when Heathcliff runs away after hearing Cathy tell Nelly Dean that it would
degrade her to marry him. Obviously
there’s had to be some overlap with the original story, but the events of the
missing three years are purely my own invention. In addition to this, there is another mystery
about Heathcliff which I have also attempted to solve.
What kind of person do you think Heathcliff
really was?
I think he had a
great capacity for love, and it’s tragic that this was never properly
fulfilled. His biggest weakness, in my
view, was an inability to forgive those who had hurt him. I think this is what coloured his
relationship with the other characters in the original story and what drove his
desire for revenge on them.
One huge surprise
was discovering how young he was. Having been used to seeing him portrayed on
screen by actors who are in their twenties or thirties, I had quite a shock on
finding that he was only about 16 or 17 when he disappeared, and only about 19
or 20 when he returned.
I know you can’t tell us what he did in
those three years without spoilers, but what kind of research did you have to
do for that period?
Quite a
lot. The dates in Wuthering Heights are extremely precise (Heathcliff’s missing years
are 1780-1783), which proved to be very constraining. My original idea was that Heathcliff would
have spent those years as a pirate, but I quickly discovered that the golden
age of piracy was several decades too early.
Then I thought he might have made his fortune in the American or
Australian goldrush, but those did not happen until the mid-1800s. So I had to find something which did fit with
the timeframe and which was consistent with his character. As for what that was, you’ll have to read the
book to find out!
Have you ever thought about how Heathcliff
and Cathy’s lives would have been if they had married?
Yes,
frequently. It’s one of literature’s
greatest mysteries. I imagine it would
have been a very passionate relationship.
I’m sure Cathy was fond of Edgar Linton (in her own peculiar way), but
there was no real spark between them as there was with Cathy and Heathcliff. But then, I’ve never really liked Cathy. She started off as a spoiled little brat,
grew into a spoiled big brat, and ended up (spoiler alert!) as a spoiled dead
brat. Heathcliff and Edgar both adored
her, but I don’t think she was worthy of either of them.
I like the brats description! Finally, what do you think Emily Brontë would say
about your book?
I hope she would
approve. If not, I hope she’d find it in
her heart to forgive me. But whatever
she might have said, I just hope she wouldn’t have said it in Joseph’s incomprehensible
dialect…
Heathcliff
will be officially launched on 30 July 2018, to
coincide with the bicentenary of the birth of Emily Brontë, but it is now
available for pre-order by clicking here.
BOOK LINKS etc
MORE ABOUT SUE:
Amazon
No comments:
Post a comment
Don't be anonymous - it's not worthwhile. Anonymous comments go straight into the spam box. Sorry.