The Bookseller features
The Favourites by Layne Fargo, some kind of
Wuthering Heights on ice.
Initially, Layne Fargo thought that reimagining Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights was an “unhinged idea”, she tells me over video call from her home in Chicago. Early reservations aside, the result, The Favourites, is an utterly compulsive read that uses Brontë’s beloved text as a thematic blueprint for a story set in the world of professional ice dance.
The Favourites follows Katarina (Kat) Shaw and Heath Rocha who begin skating together as children, their chemistry on the ice becoming more electric as they age and their feelings mature. But ambition divides them. For Kat, nothing will be enough until she wins Olympic gold, but all Heath wants and needs is Kat. He skates for her. Kat skates to win.
Things swiftly become complicated when the duo are invited to train at the Lin Ice Academy, helmed by former Olympic gold medalist ice dancer, Shelia Lin. As Kat and Heath train with the Lin twins—Bella and Garrett—tensions mount and reach a breaking point. In the aftermath, we follow Kat’s skating career across years filled with countless competitions and her turbulent, all-consuming relationship with Heath. Fargo’s experience as a thriller writer, mostly published in the US, is evident in the breathless pace at which The Favourites unfolds. The first-person narration is deftly cut with a documentary script from a programme about Kat and Heath called “The Favourites: The Shaw & Rocha Story”. The chapters alternate between the interviews and Kat’s narrative to add context and fuel drama. “They were an obsession,” says the narrator in the opening of the documentary. “Then a scandal... and ultimately... a tragedy.” [...]
Once Fargo “started really digging into” Brontë’s novel and ice dance it seemed serendipitous: “It all mapped out so well. There are themes in Wuthering Heights of class and race differences that really are a huge issue in skating—because it’s such an expensive sport, it tends to be a lot of affluent white people.” Brontë’s depiction of Cathy, a fierce and ambitious woman, defiant of the gendered restrictions of 18th-century England, also became a key touchstone for Fargo’s own unapologetic protagonist.
Kat’s ambition burns through her dire financial circumstances and dismantles the expectations of women in ice skating. Where the judges and the audiences in the novel expect a “waif”, a delicate woman ready to please the crowds, Kat is fiery, refusing to be cowed into submission. “Cathy in Wuthering Heights is really pushing back [against expectations of women] and Kat is also struggling with that. She’s very competitive, she’s very ambitious and you have to be that to be a successful athlete—but in skating you’re supposed to be pretty, well-mannered and polite.” One character observes: “Olympic athletes, female ones especially, are expected to follow a certain script... Kat Shaw shredded that script and set it on fire.” (Katie Fraser)
A contributor to
The Week writes about his night walks with his Labrador.
Week after week, George and I continued our explorations, not just in Lancashire but across the vast wilderness of Northern England. The Lake District, with its majestic peaks like Helvellyn and the precarious Striding Edge, became our playground. The raw, windswept beauty of Snowdonia in Wales, the Yorkshire Dales, and Brontë Country all held their unique challenges and charm. In these wild places, the mind often wandered to the dark, brooding presence of Heathcliff in “Wuthering Heights.” Like him, I felt connected to the elemental forces of nature—stormy skies, howling winds, and the rugged terrain. (Philip George)
We must not forget about the novelists. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë has a few words to say about the smile: "but the smile expired" and "coin one of your wild, shy, provoking smiles." Those who have developed the art of smiling realize that a loving smile can expire, or can be provocative and wild, or can even be seductively shy. So, recipients of a smile beware. (Pierre Eau Claire)
Though he doesn’t specifically recall Skipton, he says he “loves” Yorkshire, mentioning the Brontë graves in Haworth (he is a fan of Wuthering Heights) and his happy memories playing with Yorkshireman Adrian Portas, of Spear of Destiny. (Will Abbott)
In this video, we explore the remarkable life of Mary Taylor, one of Charlotte Brontë's closest friends and a true trailblazer for women's independence. From challenging societal norms to leading the first all-woman team to climb Mont Blanc at 57, Mary was a feminist icon ahead of her time. Discover how she influenced Charlotte Brontë’s life and writing and learn more about her extraordinary legacy.
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