... makes a very welcome return to my blog today.
AW Hello, Sue and thanks for being here.
SB Hello, Angela, and thank you for inviting me.
AW And you're going to share a favourite scene from your latest novel which is...
SB Heathcliff (yes, that’s THE Heathcliff) is a Wuthering Heights spin-off novel which suggests what might have happened to him during the three years when he disappears from the original story. Published by Crooked Cat Books, it is officially released on 30 July 2018, to coincide with the bicentenary of the birth of Emily Brontë.
I’ve chosen the following scene for two reasons. Firstly, it’s one of the very few scenes in Heathcliff which can be read in isolation without giving away too many spoilers. Secondly, I’m particularly fond of it because it virtually wrote itself. It was as though the characters were standing behind me having this conversation – all I had to do was write down what they were saying.
The scene takes place on the Ellen May (a sailing lugger) just off the coast of northern France. The narrator is Heathcliff himself, whilst the other speaker is a Cornish fisherman called Matthew Trelawney.
“French? Was that the language you were talking just now?”
He nodded. “I’ve been doing this trip for quite a few years, and in that time I’ve learned enough to speak to the natives fairly well. I once became quite friendly with a French lady…” His voice trailed off and he stared out to sea.
“How friendly?” I ventured.
“Friendly enough to know that I wanted to marry her,” he said, his voice quiet with emotion.
“May I ask why you didn’t?” I replied, equally quietly.
“She chose to marry someone else.” His voice had an edge which betrayed the pain he obviously still felt. “Someone who could offer her wealth and rank. She clearly valued those things far more than love and honour.”
“I know exactly how you feel. That happened to me too.”
Trelawney looked up, clearly surprised. “When was this?” he asked.
“A few weeks ago, back in Yorkshire. We’ve known each other almost all our lives, and I’d always thought she loved me as much as I loved her. I couldn’t imagine a future without her, and if I’m honest with myself I still can’t. But her brother has always hated me, and the final straw was when I overheard her telling one of the servants – one of the servants, for Heaven’s sake! – that it would degrade her to marry me.”
Trelawney laid a brotherly hand on my arm. “Was that why you came to Liverpool?”
“Yes. I just knew I had to get away. I didn’t care where I went, and boarded the first coach I found. That was where it happened to be going.”
Trelawney sighed. “Your story sounds very similar to mine…”
...about the book “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now…”Cathy’s immortal words from Wuthering Heights change Heathcliff’s life. At just seventeen years of age, heartbroken and penniless, he runs away to face an unknown future.Three years later, he returns – much improved in manners, appearance, and prosperity.But what happened during those years? How could he have made his fortune, from nothing? Who might his parents have been? And what fate turned him into literature’s most famous anti-hero?For almost two centuries, these questions have remained unanswered. Until now…
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