Today I’m so grateful to be part of the blog tour for The Heights, a wonderful book that’s basically a new take on Wuthering Heights!!
Length: 384 pages
Please note that the cover image leads to a universal buy link for the book
What they say: Two hundred years since Emily Brontë’s birth comes The Heights: a modern re-telling of Wuthering Heights set in 1980s Yorkshire.
The searchers took several hours to find the body, even though they knew roughly where to look. The whole hillside had collapsed, and there was water running off the moors and over the slick black rubble. The boy, they knew, was beyond their help.
This was a recovery, not a rescue.
A grim discovery brings DCI Lockwood to Gimmerton’s Heights Estate – a bleak patch of Yorkshire he thought he’d left behind for good. There, he must do the unthinkable, and ask questions about the notorious Earnshaw family.
Decades may have passed since Maggie closed the pits and the Earnshaws ran riot – but old wounds remain raw. And, against his better judgement, DCI Lockwood is soon drawn into a story.
A story of an untameable boy, terrible rage, and two families ripped apart. A story of passion, obsession, and dark acts of revenge. And of beautiful Cathy Earnshaw – who now lies buried under cold white marble in the shadow of the moors.
The Review:
I’d read and adored Wuthering Heights years ago but for the life of me couldn’t remember the little details that I would have loved to have at my fingertips when reading this book, which is a retelli(ingeniously methinks) in a horrendously run down estate called The Heights in the town of Gimmerton where there is constant unease and unrest due to the closure of mines, the main, if not only source of employment. There are descriptions of a town that has fallen by the wayside and is now a tough and very divided place to live, coupled with those of the moors which are harsh and stark and vivid and wonderful!
The story is mostly told in the 1980’s, with the narrative diving back to the noughties as an investigation takes place into a possible murder. The tale being told is that of the Earnshaws and Lintons, of course centring around Cathy and Heathcliff.
The history of the Earnshaw’s had me and I winced at their misfortune and felt so much for Ray, the father who I thought to be so hard done by, although with the Lintons I fell for Edward Linton too. A lot of the characters weren’t easy to like for the most part, money and love as usual being key factors that drove people to be people they might otherwise not have been. The introduction of Heathcliff, and his relationship with Cathy was mesmerising as was, well, everything that followed really! I loved the darkness and wildness of the moors and the graveyard conflicting with the just plain dilapidation and constricting feel of The Heights.
The only thing that didn’t work for me was DCI Lockwood and his investigation which just seemed unnecessary to be honest. Even a journalist narrator would have held more substance for me, as Lockwood just didn’t seem professional, moving from person to person, interviewing without a clear direction. Saying that the rest of the book really had me entranced and not only with drive me back to Wuthering Heights, I’d say I’ll revisit this again too!
Thanks so much to HQ digital for this book in return for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
About the authors(yes there’s two!)
Juliet Bell is the collaborative pen name of respected authors Janet Gover and Alison May.
Juliet was born at a writers’ conference, with a chance remark about heroes who are far from heroic. She was raised on pizza and wine during many long working lunches, and finished her first novel over cloud storage and skype in 2017.
Juliet shares Janet and Alison’s preoccupation with misunderstood classic fiction, and stories that explore the darker side of relationships.
Alison also writes commercial women’s fiction and romantic comedies and can be found at http://www.alison-may.co.uk
Janet writes contemporary romantic adventures mostly set in outback Australia and can be found at www.janetgover.com
Now. Would you like to follow the rest of the blog tour (I know I will be!)
