My review of Catherine: A retelling of Wuthering Heights By Essie Fox

The greatest tragic love story ever told – but this time, Catherine tells it herself. In Catherine, Essie Fox breathes new life into Wuthering Heights, transforming a gothic masterpiece into a haunting confession of obsession, madness and love that even death cannot end.

With a nature as wild as the moors she loves to roam, Catherine Earnshaw grows up alongside Heathcliff; a foundling her father rescued from the streets of Liverpool. Their fierce, untamed bond deepens as they grow – until Mr Earnshaw’s death leaves Hindley, Catherine’s brutal brother, in control and Heathcliff reduced to servitude.

Desperate to protect him, Catherine turns to Edgar Linton, the handsome heir to Thrushcross Grange. She believes his wealth might free Heathcliff from cruelty – but her choice is fatally misunderstood, and their lives spiral into a storm of passion, jealousy and revenge.

Now, eighteen years later, Catherine rises from her grave to tell her story – and seek redemption.

Essie Fox’s Catherine reimagines Wuthering Heights with beauty and intensity – a haunting, atmospheric retelling that brings new life to a timeless classic and lays bare the dark heart of an immortal love.

Heathcliff, where did you go?

 I wished my thoughts could fly to him, but I had no idea if he was even still alive. The last I’d seen of him had been one stormy night three years ago, when he’d vanished from my life as suddenly as he’d appeared.

I am not a fan of the novel Wuthering Heights. Reading the novel for the first time recently left me emotionally triggered mainly by Hindley’s violent nature towards those in his life. If that wasn’t enough, the relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff; (most view as a love story) a foundling that Mr. Earnshaw takes in to raise as one of his own before his untimely death. There I am emotionally triggered once again by the trauma bond between Catherine and Heathcliff until I read, Essie Fox’s Catherine. 

Catherine A retelling of Wuthering Heights could only be written by Essie Fox. I was immediately in love with the author’s true sense of Catherine’s gothic world. I wanted to remain with the ghost of Catherine along the moors as she looked back on  moments throughout various stages of her life.  For me, Reading Essie Fox’s retelling helped me view Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights from a much different perspective.