Is it an indignity for Emily Brontë?

The Telegraph & Argus announces the launch of the Essie Fox retelling of Wuthering Heights, Catherine. Next February 12 in Haworth:

The global launch of Catherine by bestselling gothic novelist Essie Fox will take place at 6pm on Thursday, February 12, at St Michael and All Angels' Church in Haworth, where Emily Brontë once worshipped.

The book, a reimagining of Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, offers a fresh perspective by telling the story through the voice of Catherine.

Essie Fox will be joined by Claire O'Callaghan for a discussion on Wuthering Heights, and both will read from their books, answer questions and sign copies.

Copies of the Special Edition Sprayed Edge first edition of Catherine will be available.

Diane Park, owner of Wave of Nostalgia bookshop, said: "Last year we organised more than sixty author, book or community events attended by over 2,500 people.

"We’re really proud of what we achieved and what an important role we have come to play in the community.

"This year’s programme is starting with a bang with two very special events in February, which we know local people will love." (Francis Redwood)

The novel is also highlighted in The Sunday Times:

Book cover for "Catherine: A retelling of Wuthering Heights" by Essie Fox, featuring gold ornate designs on a dark blue background with a house, birds, and butterflies.

Essie Fox’s previous novels have been excursions into the historical gothic. In her new book she has turned to one of the genre’s founding texts — Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë — and reimagined it just in time for Emerald Fennell’s imaginative film adaptation, starring Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie. It’s told through the eyes of Catherine Linton, a ghost returned from the grave to provide her version of her turbulent relationship with the foundling Heathcliff and the tragedies that ensue. Fox has created a haunting work in its own right. As the publisher’s publicity proclaims: “Nelly Dean told only half the story.” Those unfamiliar with Wuthering Heights will struggle with Catherine, but for readers who love the original, Fox’s interpretation provides an extra dimension and new perspectives on one of literature’s best known tales of doomed love. (Nick Rennison)

Anusua Mukherjee in The Hindu is pretty sure that Emerald Fennell's new film will not only be bad, but an insult to Emily Brontë:

 If love is thought of not as “naughty and nice” but as a transgressive, disruptive force that upends the order of society, unleashing chaos and causing collateral damage, then WH is a love story. However, we mustn’t forget that Catherine and Heathcliff’s love story is not the only one in WH. Emily offers an alternative in the story of Cathy and Hareton who, in their normalcy, sew up the rents made in the social fabric by Catherine and Heathcliff. The Nellys and Lockwoods of the world win the day.

But in between, we are shown how society itself creates the criminals it later condemns. The child Heathcliff is tortured by Catherine’s brother, Hindley, simply because he is weak and looks foreign. If Heathcliff later turns against Hindley, he has good reasons for acting so.

Emily also shows that good breeding does not guarantee a sound character. Hindley, born a gentleman, turns into a wastrel. And civility proves to be something brittle, crumbling into dust under duress. Desperation turns Catherine’s sister-in-law, Isabella, from a meek, mild-mannered woman to a scheming shrew in the blink of an eye. Hindley, Catherine’s husband, Edgar, and Isabella—the representatives of the feudal rich in WH—almost justify Heathcliff’s hatred of the pampered class although they do not deserve the violence he directs against them.

Ever since WH was published, critics have wondered how this slip of a girl called Emily Brontë, who lived her whole life in a secluded parsonage, who probably never had a lover and who never moved in elite social circles, could write a novel so layered, so quietly critical, that too in her 20s. Catherine and Heathcliff have been called forces of nature in their obstinacy, mercilessness, and readiness to smite social norms, but Emily does locate them firmly in society, if only to demonstrate why they cannot be accommodated. She probably would have sided with these two rather than with the genteel, lily-livered Thrushcross Grange set, but that is fond speculation.

Although very little is known about Emily, we do know that she was greatly fond of animals, especially dogs. WH is full of dogs who growl and threaten, but also shove a comforting nose into the hands of their owners, showing “humanity” while the humans around them behave like beasts. In one of his longest monologues in the novel, Heathcliff tells Nelly that he has toughened Hareton by teaching him to “scorn everything extra-animal as silly and weak”. This might be the closest we get not just to Heathcliff’s heart but also to his creator’s.

I do not have much expectations of Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, which is releasing on February 13, to cash in on Valentine’s Day fervour. As I explained, to see WH as an erotically charged love story is to insult Emily Brontë. One of the only female writers to have survived in the literary canon that is still overwhelmingly male, Emily Brontë surely does not deserve this indignity.

Nevertheless, many others expect the film with varying kinds of enthusiasm: The Free Press Journal, Azat TV, Ámbito, ScreenRant, Inkl, La Gaceta.

The looks of Margot Robbie on the Wuthering Heights promo tour are discussed in Women, Who What Wear, Glamour, Telva and Instore. Her curls in Vogue Singapore. The Taj Mahal jewel has its own controversy, as can be read in The Telegraph India. The Daily Mail analyzes the PR and marketing campaign of the film:

Speaking on behalf of OLBG, Kayley [Cornelius] shared: 'What Emerald Fennell has done with Wuthering Heights is a near-perfect example of how modern film marketing now works, because she has deliberately sparked a level of controversy that has encouraged the public to do the promotional heavy lifting for her. 

'In today’s landscape, traditional billboard and out-of-home advertising simply do not hold the same influence they once did and can often become one of the most expensive and least effective parts of a marketing budget. 

'By contrast, social advertising and online visibility are now the most cost-effective ways to promote anything, particularly when that visibility is being driven organically through user-generated content. 

'Creating something controversial is far more likely to spread a message further and wider than any billboard ever could, and that is exactly what is happening here. 

'The backlash around the trailer and casting has dominated social media feeds, opinion columns and group chats, keeping the film front of mind without the studio having to spend heavily on traditional promotion.

'From a PR perspective, this kind of conversation is the marketing team’s dream, particularly at a time when most cinema tickets are booked online, meaning heightened awareness and debate can translate into a higher conversion rate among audiences actively searching for tickets. 

'The volume of free user-generated content alone will have saved the team millions, and it would not be surprising if the total marketing spend for Wuthering Heights sits somewhere around the $20 to $30 million mark, which is effectively pennies when compared to the millions that Barbie spent on marketing.'

Indeed, Fennell did not have the blockbuster budget that one would expect for a film that has generated such buzz. 

She reportedly turned down a $150million bid from Netflix and ended up with a $80million budget from Warner Bros. after they ensured her they would prioritise a theatrical release. (Rebecca Lawrence)

PrimeTimer talks about the presence of Jacob Elordi on the Jimmy Kimmel Show promoting Wuthering Heights 2026. 

Yorkshire Live discusses the rise of the TB infections in the UK, particularly in Yorkshire and Humber. Lesering (Germany) has a post on Wuthering Heights).