Essie Fox – Sunday Times bestselling author, queen of the gothic, and master of atmospheric, dazzling historical fiction – has reimagined Wuthering Heights from a new angle, in Catherine Earnshaw’s own voice.

You thought you knew Wuthering Heights… What if you were wrong?

Book blurb

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 to seek redemption.

My thoughts

Essie Fox brings a new perspective allowing Catherine Earnshaw’s spirit to rise from her grave eighteen years after her death and tell her story of Wuthering Heights.

This is a beautiful, heartbreaking retelling that stays true to the language of Emily Brontë it captures the dark, brooding atmosphere of the moors, it brings chills down the spine even as it brings us a new understanding of who Heathcliff was through Catherine’s eyes. Nelly Dean who narrated the story in Wuthering Heights is still a prominent character but she could not have known the things that are now revealed in Catherine that give a very plausible explanation of Heathcliff’s desire for revenge beyond the servitude that was brought upon him by Hindley, beyond that of Edgar Linton marrying Catherine. Yet it also brings with that explanation a reason for Catherine to reconsider her feelings.

Catherine is an extraordinary story and Essie Fox is a wonderful storyteller she brings together this cast of characters that are so familiar to those who have read Wuthering Heights or seen various screen adaptations and gives us an opportunity to consider their story anew, to see that there may have been reasons beyond what Nelly Dean was able to tell us. It also offers us, through Catherine’s story, knowledge that makes this a heartbreaking and tragic story.

Essie Fox has written a wonderfully gothic and atmospheric story that has kept the intensity, obsession and desire for revenge yet still, with this added knowledge, there remains a deep connection between the two that makes any kind of resolution unobtainable leaving Catherine searching for some kind of redemption.

In Catherine Essie Fox has given us a new insight into and brought a breath of fresh air with the additions, all of which make sense, she has made to the original story and I found myself totally absorbed and thoroughly enjoying it.

Thanks

With thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to this stunning BlogTour and to Orenda Books for providing an ebook for the purpose of reading and sharing my thoughts on Catherine by Essie Fox.

BlogTour

Information

Published: Orenda Books | 12 February 2026 | 296 pp |

Buy: Orenda Books Ltd | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Your local library | Your local bookshop

Author: ESSIE FOX

Essie Fox was born and raised in rural Herefordshire, which inspires much of her writing. After studying English Literature at Sheffield University, she moved to London where she worked for the Telegraph Sunday Magazine, then the book publishers George Allen & Unwin – before becoming self-employed in the world of art and design. Always an avid reader, Essie now spends her time writing historical gothic novels.

Essie Fox is the Sunday Times bestselling author of seven historical novels, including The Somnambulist, shortlisted for the National Book Awards, and The Fascination, an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Her work has twice been selected as The Times Historical Book of the Month, most recently for her gothic mystery Dangerous. She appears regularly at literary festivals and cultural institutions and is the host of the podcast Talking the Gothic. Essie is also the creator of the popular blog: The Virtual Victorian. She has lectured on this era at the V&A, and the National Gallery in London. She lives in Windsor.

Follow the Author on

Twitter | Instagram | Bluesky