The Holmfirth Book Festival, which ended last week, goes from strength to strength. A record audience, good takings, and the big beasts of Yorkshire literature were all there: Simon Armitage the poet laureate, Skipton-born poet Blake Morrison and Brian Bilston ‘the people’s laureate’. This is not to mention a riveting debate between two great Scottish Williams – Boyd and Dalrymple – who descended on Holmfirth from their own sellout talks at the Edinburgh Fringe.
But for Yorkshire Bylines, the real star this year was a relative newcomer, Emily Brontë. Born and bred in Bradford, her debut novel Wuthering Heights just came out. She read extracts at the festival to great accolades. Yorkshire Bylines caught up with her in the Rose and Crown Inn and asked her about the book.
Interview with ‘Emily Brontë’
So, Emily, tell us what inspired you to write a love story set on the Yorkshire moors.
Well, I wanted to scotch the idea that Yorkshire people are not romantic! More seriously, I studied history at Oxford, I’m fascinated by the links between Yorkshire’s landed elite, the colonies and the slave trade. So, beyond the love story, the book is also about empire and exploitation. Even today, large swathes of Yorkshire are owned by the descendants of slave masters. But of courses it IS also a love story!
Amazing! I’ve read the book, and a lot of that politics is more subtle. So, tell me about the title.
Well, I’m a big Kate Bush fan. Got that from my dad. And just loved her song Wuthering Heights. So, I thought that could be a great name for the place on the moors where the affair takes place, the backdrop if you like. Oh, and yes before you ask, Kate Bush’s agents did give me permission to use the name! I was also influenced by the Genesis album Wind and Wuthering, another of my dad’s favourites!
Gothic label, controversial scenes
Would you describe yourself as a neo-Gothic novelist?
(Emily Brontë looks a bit Goth herself – small, pretty, dark haired, pale, and dressed completely in black. A consumptive look one might say).
I don’t want to be labelled Goth, Romantic, anything. I’m Emily Brontë and I’ve written a love story and a historical novel which I think has a lot of relevant messages for the tough times we are living in.
And the puppy scene, where one of the characters strangles a litter of puppies? Some people have found this gratuitous. People walked out yesterday when you read out that bit of the novel… Do you regret that scene in the novel?
On reflection, yes. But I was trying to show a cruel personality – measured by the standards of the 19th century, which is when the novel is set. My editor wants to remove that scene from the second edition – if there is one!
Brontë’s next chapter
So, a very successful writing debut, congratulations. You made a hit in Holmfirth this week. What’s next?
Mmm… still thinking. My sister Charlotte is au pairing in Brussels – I went to see her last month. She told me some interesting stuff about the family she is working for, mental health issues, tax dodging schemes in the Caribbean and so on. I’m thinking of weaving a story around some of that, building upon Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea… it can have some of the same ingredients as Wuthering Heights – love, pain, a backdrop of the Colonies, the slave trade, race issues. Again, all themes for our times…
Emily Brontë, thank you. Your first novel, certainly not your last. You have a glittering writing career ahead. Bylines wishes you good luck. We are very proud of homegrown talent like yours!
Thanks John. Maybe my next book can be serialised in Yorkshire Bylines!
