Ill Will

by Michael Stewart, Everal Walsh (Narrator)

I am William Lee: brute; liar, and graveside thief.

But you will know me by another name.

Heathcliff has left Wuthering Heights, and is travelling across the moors to Liverpool in search of his past.

Along the way, he saves Emily, the foul-mouthed daughter of a Highwayman, from a whipping, and the pair journey on together.

Roaming from graveyard to graveyard, making a living from Emily’s apparent ability to commune with the dead, the pair lie, cheat and scheme their way across the North of England.

And towards the terrible misdeeds – and untold riches – that will one day send Heathcliff home to Wuthering Heights

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Gothic, Historical

Audiobook

First published March 22, 2018

Reviews

[Veronica ⭐️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Stewart's take on the three years Heathcliff was missing from Wuthering Heights. I haven't read Wuthering Heights so I had no preconceived ideas of what he should be like.
The prologue gave me a good idea of Heathcliff's need for vengeance against Hindley and Cathy. Stewart's descriptive prose and superb characterization kept me enthralled throughout the entire tale.
Stewart includes many issues from the time such as the discontent of miners, prejudice, slave trading, the large gap between the rich and the poor, the low value of a human life.
Ten year old Emily's potty mouth gave me a few laughs. She was an old head on young shoulders. She had been through much and seen much in her few years and quite often it was her advice that Heathcliff needed to heed to survive their journey.

Once you get past the over use of offensive language in the first few dozen pages it does settle. The graphic violence may not be for everyone.
*I received a review copy from the publisher.

This review is part of the Beauty & Lace Bookclub
To read the original review on Beauty & Lace please visit http://bookgirl.beautyandlace.net/boo...

[Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was on a promotional blog tour for this book, I wasn't sure what to rate it at the time of the post's upload. However, I have settled on 2/2.5 stars in the end!

I am honestly super late to reading the original Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, so I was definitely interested to see another writer’s take on the classic novel. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the author is a Kate Bush fan! (The majority of my family are too), finding inspiration for writing through songs is another method that I also personally use to help with my creative ideas. Ill Will is set during the three years of Heathcliff’s absence from the original Emily Bronte novel. During this time, he is on a path to discover more about his background/heritage. Meeting Emily, a girl who houses some special powers to connect dead residents and those still alive, they have to work together in order to find the answers to all of the questions that Heathcliff has. Considering that I haven’t quite finished Wuthering Heights, I found the start of Ill Will to be more satisfying than the original. It really is a novel that houses visual descriptions to show the surroundings where the main characters are. I will say that there is a little bit of swearing in it which, I don’t mind the occasional word thrown in. It was interesting to see how Emily used her power in order to gain some money off of others to help with their journey. Overall, the novel itself was easy to read and opened more about Heathcliff as a character.

UPDATED THOUGHTS- There was one scene that i found quite gory and descriptive, which I wasn't a fan of. In the end, I did choose to DNF the original Wuthering Heights since I had issues understanding the plotline and the characters. Therefore, I didn't feel fully invested in Ill Will as I thought I would be.

[Kathleen Flynn]

I was deeply impressed by the amount of research that went into this book, and I loved the vocabulary. See my notes and highlights if you want to know how much I loved the vocabulary!

More blood-soaked than a revenger's tragedy. Probably more blood-soaked than the story needed it to be, but experts can disagree.

Remain convinced this book was not well-served by telling it in first person. There is too much the author wants to say that cannot be properly conveyed from Heathcliff's viewpoint.

[Haleema · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 and a half stars

Oh Heathcliff... I really enjoyed this book it was the perfect read for me at this time in my life. Stewart's storytelling reeled me right in and this was another world to jump into at my leisure.
As a fan of Wuthering Heights I was intrigued to read an author's description of Heathcliff and his tale of when he disappeared for that period of time when he made his fortune and came back a "gent"... If that's what you could call him hehe.
I have not read Wuthering Heights for a while but I felt that I was instantly back there again when the book started as Stewart in my view captured what could have been Heathcliff's thoughts and emotions prior to leaving the moors. I felt his hatred and suffering and I believed that this was the very same Heathcliff that Emily created.
The imagery of the moors and the historical descriptions in the book reflected Stewart's research and I enjoyed learning about the towns as they were back then.
I really felt for Heathcliff, he was a true Byronic hero and I enjoyed seeing his considerate side through his relationship with Emily. I loved Emily's character she was brill; a lying cocky rogue who supported Heathcliff. I could talk more about her and the friendship but this review is so long as it is.
The fact that we never knew Heatchliff's real name struck me in this book as id never thought about it before. This was a theme all the way through the book and I was eager to find out if we did get a name. I'm glad we didn't as some things need to remain a mystery and maybe it would only feel right if Emily Bronte herself had given him his birth name. But how it must have felt for Heathcliff to not know his own identity for so long and how he was made to feel like an outcast was so beautifully translated to the reader.
There was a lot of gore which I was uncomfortable with, I think because I was rooting so much for Heatchliff I didn't want certain attributes to be attached to him. It was bad enough that he did what he did in such a cold ruthless twisted manner in Wuthering Heights without adding wild cold blooded murderer to the list. But at the same time it needed to happen to harden his character more and show us that he did have that detachment to others and dark side otherwise how could he have come back to do all those said things?
I wish I could carry on reading more about when Heathcliff returned to the moors and see the rest of the story from his perspective after reading this. It really rekindled my love for Wuthering heights!

[Delphine · Rating 1 out of 5]

In Ill Will , Michael Stewart tries to fill in the missing years of Heathcliffs life. The effort falls flat entirely. The main character is a highly unplausible Heathcliff and lacks subtlety. Heathcliff should be a brooding, complex character, instead of the murderous, cursing revenge-seeker portrayed here. The other characters are far from realistic, too - the surprisingly adult 10-year-old Emily, the utterly boring Jonas Bold. The novel contains disturbing graphic voilent scenes (I don't see the added value). No, Michael Stewart is a poor reader of the original novel and an even worse adapter of the storyline.

[Shabanah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dislike star ratings and would really give this a 4 ½ if I could. I loved this radical re-imagining of the world of ‘Wuthering Heights’ from the bottom-up viewpoint of a black Heathcliff. Stewart goes with the theory that he’s the illegitimate son of Mr Earnshaw and a slave woman, whose missing years are spent on a journey over the moors to Liverpool, travelling under the alias of ‘William Lee’ to discover the secret of his birth. Think ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ or Andrea Arnold’s gritty 2011 film – but much bolder and more brutally anti-Romantic. Stewart’s Heathcliff is an embittered lover, angry working-class hero railing against ‘Those Bastards in their Mansions’, racial outcast, scheming malcontent, proud anti-Christ and far more sadistic than in the novel. My sympathies were tested to the limit, but the great achievement of this novel is somehow we never totally lose faith in Heathcliff.

The author also takes inevitable artistic liberties with the text, most of which I was able to wrap my head around. So for example, I’m resolutely of the view that as Heathcliff and Cathy’s love was forged in childhood, it’s physical but definitely asexual (more like a sibling or twin identification). However, I did reluctantly accept - brace yourselves - early flashbacks to Cathy and Heathcliff getting properly physical on the moors, as more in keeping with his persona ‘William Lee’. And of course Cathy only exists now as a haunting memory he speaks to directly throughout the narrative, in beautifully atmospheric passages and phrases that evoke the spirit of the moors just like the original novel. It’s difficult to imagine how any female character could be a match for Cathy, but the writer replaces her with Emily, his hard-as nails partner-in-crime who’s just as spirited, and even more cunning than Heathcliff. I was worried she’d turn out to be the usual insipid female sidekick but Emily is a brand new, vividly drawn character that’s more than a match for him. The way their riotous relationship plays out through both horror and gallows humour, mutual suspicion and support, creates a natural tension and dynamic that propels the story forward.

Above all, Stewart has pulled off the feat of creating a clever hybrid: a dark, compelling page turner that’s also an accomplished piece of literary writing. A kind of rougher, adult version of Leon Garfield’s eighteenth century adventures like ‘Smith’ and ‘Black Jack’, which I so loved as a child. ‘Ill Will’ is also a meticulously researched and enlightening social history of eighteenth century England and the struggles of the powerless. It’s a world of working-class protest against over-mighty masters, press-gangs, highwaymen, cut-throats, religious hypocrites and the great social evil at the heart of Heathcliff’s search for his identity – the slave trade. One of the most horrifying discoveries he makes is a slave master’s ‘journal of sexual congress’ with his slave mother ‘Lilith’– basically a rape-diary, which I’ve since discovered the author based on actual examples in the British Library.

Stewart was a poet before a novelist and it shows: what I loved more than anything was the spare, muscular language, which is so earthy you can hear it squelch. He treats us to many coarse-textured Anglo-Saxonisms but also bright poetic gems, reminiscent of Emily Brontë herself, Ted Hughes and so many other Yorkshire poets. From the start, he seems to create a very distinctive voice for Heathcliff, immersing us in what I call his ‘langscape’, through blunt vocabulary like ‘ligged’,‘flaysome’,‘bray’ and ‘puttock’, but also images of surprising delicacy such as ‘You held onto his lifeless hand, his skin as brittle as a wren’s shell.’

I did miss the transcendent, mystical elements of the original novel but Stewart cleverly transmutes some of them into Heathcliff’s Lucifer-like hatred of the official Church, and he certainly knows his Bible well enough to turn it on them, Caliban-like. He gives him a deliciously diabolical wit in passages like ‘God killed Job’s children and he didn’t even have the guts to do it himself. Instead he got Satan to do it. At least Hindley had the balls to kick me in the face with his own boot.’ But there was one mis-step I found hard to take: Heathcliff’s first brutal killing. Of course we expect sadistic excess from the hero of a Gothic novel – but it’s almost always accompanied either by a kind of perversely attractive dark charisma or fiendish intelligence, even style. I had no problem with the orgy of violence at the end of the novel, but in this earlier episode I felt the exact nature of certain acts he commits tip him over into base animal depravity. These were acts we hear of in war atrocities, and which I felt belonged in a lower grade genre novel, because of the overly explicit description. Ironic, given that Stewart has taken issue with Professor John Sutherland calling Heathcliff a ‘psychopath’ (see his essay ‘Is Heathcliff a Murderer?).

What’s more, in the novel, Heathcliff declares: ‘the more the worms grind, the more I long to crush out their entrails!’ but we never really lose sympathy for him because he mostly punches up, with a sense of righteous anger or ‘moral teething’, as he puts it. Brontë’s image is suggestive of a generalised anger/alienation, rather than petty, sensationalist punishment of a specific individual. Thankfully, most of the time, the author does capture perfectly the original Heathcliff’s malign intentions in lines that leave more to the imagination, like ‘Better to kill a man’s spirit, to crush it entirely, while saving his flesh for the devil’ or ‘I would do what had to be done. I would grab the adder by its tail and snap it like a stick’. Unfortunately, I was so sickened by that scene that for a while, I lost all sympathy, so that when Heathcliff finally meets his nemesis, I almost cheered for the wrong man. Rooting for Heathcliff’s oppressor surely wasn’t the reaction the writer wanted at that point….Thankfully, he was somewhat redeemed when we returned to the frame narrative, helped by a number of strands that were deliberately left open to interpretation.

I was lucky enough to hear the author talk about his novel before I started reading it. And hugely impressed by his compendious knowledge of social and political history, of the Brontë works and biographies, and their literary hinterland and legacy. He’s not just a successful novelist, but a poet, script-writer and lecturer in creative writing who knows this literary landscape inside out. He was also the brainchild behind the 2018 Brontë Stones Project, newly commissioned poetic milestones marking the Brontës’ life-story that begin on his home turf of Thornton, Bradford and end at the Haworth Parsonage. This is also my local landscape, which I know and love. I hear so many Yorkshire writers who are inspired by it say that to truly capture its spirit in writing, you need to walk it the way Emily Brontë did daily, to feel its texture under your feet. So of course, not only did Stewart imagine Mr Earnshaw’s three-day walk over the moors from Haworth to Liverpool to collect his son, he actually attempted the same feat, even managing to write some of the novel on the way! And yet he wears all this learning lightly, coming across as friendly and bloke-ish, the type who’d invite you down the pub for a pint. It’s no wonder when you hear his life story: he’s almost entirely self-taught. In his entertaining introduction to the novel, Stewart disclosed the story of his teenage years as a disaffected school boy who rarely read or studied but got his creative kicks subverting the system. Hence the affinity with Heathcliff?

A final note for any fellow teachers: this would make a great wider reading / book box text / pre-classic preparation for the 19th century novel (ages 13+). When I sat listening rapt to him, I kept thinking how well Stewart would go down with teenage students of all abilities – and how he’d be able to cut through to more reluctant readers and the ‘too cool for school’ crowd. Apparently, there’s talk of ‘Ill Will’ being filmed, and if the screen version is faithful to it, its strong language and content would mean a 15 certificate. So if possible, do get Stewart in as a visiting author, but bear that in mind when pushing the book. I think he'd be ideal for sixth formers studying 'Wuthering Heights' - would really enlighten them on context and different critical interpretations.

A minority of readers have reacted badly to ‘Ill Will’ but for that precise reason, it would also make a perfect reading group choice, and stimulate lively discussion. The only people who wouldn’t enjoy it are Brontë purists with a fixed idea of who Heathcliff is – those who were appalled by Kathryn Hughes’ Guardian article ‘The Strange Cult of Emily and the Hot Mess of Wuthering Heights’. The fiery debate around that showed that every now and again a healthy dose of iconoclasm is a good thing. We need writers like Stewart who dare to blow apart our assumptions, if only to reassess what we truly love in a classic and why.

[Naomi Key · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ill Will aims to fill in Heathcliffe's missing years, explaining how he manages to leave Wuthering Heights a snarling half wild young man and returns 3 years later to enact his revenge on those who had wronged him a man of style, substance and education.


Lots to enjoy in this book, especially the descriptions of the moors but, as all books about books are( with the exception of The Wide Sargasso Sea) it feels constrained by its original parameters.

Part of the trouble is that, despite the author's best efforts, Heathcliffe ( and Cathy too) are one note characters. Even Heathcliffe's supposed great passion seems to be fuelled more of the same hatred and anger which drives his character through the book.

There's plenty of attention to period detail and plenty of knowledge on the slave trade, building stone walls, highwaymen, canals and the fight for universal suffrage ;Stewart has clearly done his homework. And it's unfair to say there's no character development; we do see moments of vulnerability and tenderness in Heathcliffe's developing friendship with fellow foul mouthed orphan Emily.
There are pages of lavishly described violence and swearing a plenty which move it away from Bronte's work but lend it a similar darkness.

I still dislike Heathcliffe but feel a bit more understanding of him and the world he inhabits.

[Frederike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only read this if you like fanfiction with a highly implausible main character, slow pace and occasional graphic violent scenes, otherwise save your money and time and read something else

[Nicola Friar · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting imagining if Heathcliff's origins. It's well-told tough, tough, and sometimes crude read lacking in any kind of romanticism. Although Heathcliff's obsession with Cathy is still very much present, he finds himself a sidekick in the form of an equally tough and crude girl named Emily. Their journey together, and eventual bond is quite touching. Having said that, this it's sometimes hard to reconcile this Heathcliff with Emily Brontë's, a creation who remains as mysterious as ever.

[Rosemary Leggett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing, darkly brutal imagining of Heathcliff's missing years.

[Alex (ReadingBetweenTheNotes) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tricky one for me. I absolutely ADORE Wuthering Heights so the idea of a story centring around Heathcliff's disappearance of three years immediately intrigued me. I should have known it couldn't possibly live up to the wonderful classic.

I found the tone of the book very inconsistent; one minute it was coarse and full of swearing, the next it was almost lyrical. The coarseness did work more because it fit with Heathcliff's despicable character, and yet I struggled to picture him in the same way as I do when reading the original story. I did like the use of short sentences; I felt that this was perfect for conveying the harsh, snappy tone of the character. However, I must say that the use of the 'c' word was a little too much for me. I understand that Heathcliff would obviously use swearwords but I would have preferred that they weren't constantly rammed down my throat. (And that's another issue altogether; there was some awful imagery in this book that actually turned my stomach.)

The book gave me really weird Steinbeck vibes, with two lonely souls finding each other and journeying together through the countryside trying to make a living. But I kinda liked it? The nature talk was great and I thought the descriptions were beautifully stark. I also liked the hint of a supernatural element and thought that was an interesting addition to the story.

It also gave me a little giggle that all of the supporting characters had names linking to Wuthering Heights or the Bronte sisters - the female lead was named Emily; the two protagonists take on the surname Bell at one point (the pen name used by the Brontes); there was a dead guy named Tom Hardy (yes THAT Tom Hardy, the actor who played Heathcliff in the BBC adaptation of WH); there was even a dragoon named the Lord Rochester (the romantic interest from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre).

Unfortunately, the small moments I liked weren't enough to make me love the book or to ignore the things I didn't like about it. I'd probably suggest that die-hard fans of Wuthering Heights such as myself avoid this one.

[Rachel Maria Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It can’t be understated what a massive undertaking it must have been by the author to tackle the psychology and missed years of Heathcliff. I'm still in awe of the whole concept behind the book.

The narrative perfectly and authentically borrows from Wuthering Heights – a rattling pace, raw survival, the resurfacing of past trauma, and the impossible and undeniable bond between Heathcliff and Cathy. I enjoyed the style of Heathcliff’s dialogue with his frequent heartfelt return to Cathy mingled with a complete immersion in the natural world, but of course it was disturbing for this to be effortlessly interspersed with jealousy, cold-hearted vengeance, hate and violence. For me this was its success in exploring the fluctuations of psychopathy, the true horror being how close it is to (and within?) us all.

One point knocked off due to my aversion to the young girl’s particular type of “gift” and how it was presented, which I felt did not ring true nor honour her namesake.

[Andrew Galloway · Rating 4 out of 5]

A riotous romp through the visceral stench of the North of England in the late eighteenth century with William Lee (Heathcliff) the original bad boy of English literature and his feisty new sidekick Emily. Like an adolescent Bonnie and Clyde they leave a trail of death and destruction in their wake.
Stewart's attention to historic detail and use of historic language and regional slang is coupled with a punchy narrative reminiscent of Irving Welsh, giving this eighteenth century story a very modern feel. This is Wuthering Heights meets Natural Born Killers!

[Lynne - The Book Squirrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Bronte fan, although not a fan of Wuthering Heights I did like this version of how Heathcliff got rich! And I knew from reading WH he wouldn’t have got it by hard work!

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to listen to this one because I saw the author on a panel at a conference and was intrigued by the premise of a novel that purports to fill in the years between Heathcliff leaving Wuthering Heights and returning as a harder man, ready to wreak revenge on those who have wronged him.

I knew what the Big Reveal would be because an audience member, in all innocence, clearly not having read the book, asked Stewart what he thought about a certain theory and Stewart said well, he really didn't want to discuss it too much. So if you are a big WH fan and know that there's a certain theory out there, well . . . .

Would I have liked it more if I didn't know there was a certain theory and thought the author had come up with an amazing twist? Probably not. Perhaps reading the audiobook didn't help, as narrator Everal Walsh read the whole thing in an angry tone of voice and did the Emily bits in a horrendous "urchin" voice that made Emily sound about as far from a ten-year-old girl as I could possibly imagine, more like some kind of evil gnome character from a fantasy novel. His skill with Northern English accents would probably be wasted on, say, a US listener (and glancing at the other reviews a US listener might well have a problem with the heavy use of swearing).

I was put off straightaway by the use of the second person present tense in the first chapter (it reoccurs in the last chapter); I could sort of see where Stewart was going with this but it came across as self-consciously "literary" and definitely pretentious. The rest of the story is in first person, Heathcliff telling the story to Cathy while longing for her and remembering the times they f***ed WHOA WAIT A MOMENT like other reviewers I had trouble getting my head around Heathcliff and Cathy having had a physical relationship, especially as I seem to remember Heathcliff giving his age at 15 at the beginning (I could be wrong about that). Also, wasn't Heathcliff described as looking like a gypsy in WH? Here his appearance is variously hinted at but eventually he turns out to be half-African, which may be plausible but just doesn't seem right somehow. I'm a bit handicapped by not having read WH for many years--it is definitely my least favorite Brontë book.

There was a plethora of description of various aspects of Heathcliff's journey that sounded suspiciously like a series of research dumps. The journey itself was somewhat drawn out and episodic, and for a long time I thought the story was going to hinge on Emily's "gift" until it suddenly veered in a different direction. At which point Heathcliff, from being a quite decent sort who avoids violence except in self-defense (or defending Emily) becomes a brutal killer who stokes his violent impulses with long, overwrought imaginings of the sufferings of a certain person (see how hard I'm trying to avoid spoilers here?)

And then the question of how he came by his wealth during his three-year absence gets answered in a way that's not only farfetched, but could also have offered a completely different path that would have made me like him a whole lot more. I never did like Heathcliff, and now if I ever read WH again I'm afraid I might superimpose this book upon it and dislike him all the more.

I ended up underwhelmed. I'd probably have given this one two stars ("it was OK") but am adding one for a sincere attempt at literary language and style. What was missing was subtlety.

[Angela Mahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my what a book!

I was completely absorbed in the story of Heathcliff, despite my initial reservations.
The writing is compelling , depicting the dark, brooding, mysterious character of Heathcliff on his bloody thirsty rampage to destroy those who cross him with his own bare hands. It was pretty gruesome in parts, true to Heathcliff’s nature.
For me it also captured the period & landscape brilliantly.
The depiction of the 3 years Heathcliff spent away from Cathy could run seamlessly from Emily Brontes original 1847 novel, in my opinion.
I have loved reading this & it can, absolutely, be read without having read Wuthering Heights first & can be enjoyed in its own right.

Finally the closing acknowledgements from the author, who walked the walk that Mr Earnshaw made with Heathcliff sealed the authenticity of this book for me.

I won’t forget this novel in a hurry.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following Cathy's confession to Nelly that to marry Heathcliff would demean her, he flees Wuthering Heights and disappears. 'Ill Will' fills this three year absence with an account of his travels to make his fortune.

Stewart's novel obviously shows his love for the source, 'Wuthering Heights' and his period research is on point and accurate. Heathcliff's travels under an assumed name reminds us that he only has that which was given to him by Mr Earnshaw and no original identity of his own. Whilst some points of the novel are melancholic and others whimsical, 'Ill Will' is driven by an overwhelming anger and loathing on Heathcliff's part.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this. A good book about what Emily Brontë's character Heathcliff may have done during the years he spent away from Wuthering Heights.

[Roo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish. I really couldn't take to it

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it. Terrible, then got increasingly violent and gruesome. I just couldn't go on.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have you read Wuthering Heights? If so, you’ll remember that in the middle of the book, Heathcliff disappears after hearing Cathy say that it would degrade her to marry him. When he returns after a three year absence he has undergone a transformation, but we never find out where he has been and what he has done during that period. In Ill Will, Michael Stewart has created a story for Heathcliff to fill in the gaps.

In Stewart’s version of events, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights with two main goals in mind: first, to find a way to get revenge on Hindley and Edgar Linton, and second, to discover as much as he can about his own background. Knowing that old Mr Earnshaw, Hindley and Cathy’s father, brought him back to Wuthering Heights as a child after a trip to Liverpool, Heathcliff (taking the name William Lee) sets off for the west coast hoping that Liverpool will hold clues to the truth of his parentage. On the way, he rescues a ten-year-old girl, Emily, from a brutal whipping and as she is all alone in the world he allows her to join him on his mission.

As the daughter of a highwayman who has recently met his fate at the end of a hangman’s noose, Emily is used to living by her wits and she suggests that they make use of her unusual talents to earn some money for the journey. If her scheme goes wrong, however, they could find themselves in serious trouble. Will they make it safely to Liverpool – and if they do, what will they find there? Will the secrets of Heathcliff’s past be revealed and will he be able to return to Wuthering Heights as a rich and educated gentleman?

As Wuthering Heights is one of my favourite classics, I was immediately drawn to this book but at the same time I didn’t want to set my expectations too high as I have often been disappointed with sequels, prequels and retellings of classic novels in the past. This had the potential to be a good one – Heathcliff may not be the most pleasant of characters but he is certainly an interesting one and there are an endless number of stories which could be invented to fill in his missing years – but as I suspected, there were things that I disliked as well as things that I liked.

Starting with the positives, there’s some lovely descriptive writing which brings to life the countryside Heathcliff and Emily pass through on their way to Liverpool. These descriptions could only have been written by someone who had visited the area and felt a connection with it, so I was not surprised to read that Michael Stewart had spent some time walking across the moors as part of his research. The novel is set in the 1780s (although Wuthering Heights was published in the nineteenth century, most of the action takes place earlier than that), which is a time of change as the industrial revolution begins to transform the landscape and the lives of the people who inhabit it. The north of England is at the heart of this, and Heathcliff, who has been isolated at Wuthering Heights for years, takes note of the canals, bridges, factories and other signs of technological progress that they see on their journey.

A fascinating setting and time period, then; my main problem with the book was the language. I don’t mind some swearing in a book, if it feels like the natural way that a character would speak, but I didn’t really expect to pick up a novel based on Wuthering Heights and find the f-word and c-word on almost every page, especially coming from a ten-year-old girl (although to be fair, I suppose she is described as ‘foul-mouthed’ in the blurb). I found it irritating and a constant reminder that I was reading a contemporary take on Wuthering Heights, rather than being swept back into the world Emily Brontë had created, which is what I would personally have preferred. It won’t bother everyone, I’m sure, and I know that people did obviously swear in the eighteenth century, but it just didn’t feel right to me in this particular book.

The actual story is quite engaging, which is why I kept reading – and although the explanation of Heathcliff’s origins is predictable, it’s realistic given the time and place and the few clues we have to work with from Brontë’s novel, but despite my love of Wuthering Heights or maybe because of it, this book just wasn’t for me. Stewart’s portrayal of Heathcliff was too different from the way I have always imagined him, so I never felt convinced that I was reading about the same character. I’m sure Ill Will is going to be a big success with other readers, though, and as there’s already talk of a television adaptation I think we could all be hearing a lot more about it in the future.

[Jaffareadstoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forced out of his home, at Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff travels across Northern England, searching for clues to his past, on a journey filled with darkness, danger and deceit.

In the novel, Wuthering Heights, there is no clue as to where Heathcliff disappears to in the three years he is missing from the story; however, Ill Will provides a reasonable explanation for where he might have been, and fleshes out the violent world that Heathcliff so dangerously inhabits.

In despair over his tormented relationship, with Cathy Earnshaw, and with the need to discover more about himself, Heathcliff is determined to escape Wuthering Heights. He changes his name to William Lee, and sets about discovering his origins. However, the journey through the northern countryside is fraught with danger, not just from the savagery of landscape, but also from his association with Emily, the strange and, at times, other worldly companion he meets on his journey.

In Ill Will, the author has conjured a rather bleak story. There is no gentleness within its pages, nor does the story make any apology for the coarseness of its language, which broods and grumbles throughout, and which is so much a part of Heathcliff’s dangerous personality and so evocative of his tortured life, that I came to tolerate, and understand, the need for such vulgarity.

There is an abrasive quality to the story telling, particularly in terms of content which is disturbingly graphic, and yet, at other times, there is such a rich lyricism to the language, that the landscape and its variety of people come gloriously alive.

Heathcliff’s missing years have always been a mystery, and there is no doubt that Ill Will gives an electrifying account of what might have happened.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wuthering Heights is up there as one of the best books I’ve ever read. The feelings of darkness, romance, sadness and loss it raises in the reader make it an addictive, obsessive read.

I’d always wondered what the dark, brooding, beast of a man, Heathcliff, got up to in his years away from Cathy and Wuthering Heights, and Ill Will gives us an idea of what we’ve missed out on.

The book is steeped in the same, stunning bleakness of Emily Brontë’s classic. The Yorkshire moors are beautiful and vast, yet at the same time, dark and moody. As someone who visits Goathland, Haworth and Pickering on a yearly basis, Stewart has captured this perfectly.

I haven’t read a book as quickly as this in quite some time. It’s superbly written. I read it in a North Yorkshire accent. I can place myself in all the locations mentioned in the book. It’s even darker and grittier than it’s predecessor, and rather gory and violent in places, but that’s Heathcliff all over, and to be honest, I was with him all the way. What he does, he does out of love, and revenge. It is no wonder he grew to be the man he was after what life had thrown at him throughout is younger years.

I’ve honestly spent every spare moment I’ve had delving into Ill Will. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time and deserves each of the five stars I’ve rated it with.

[John Newsham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A suitably passionate and intense homage to Heathcliff and the northern English landscapes so central to the work of the Brontes. This is an essential addition to the bookshelves of all Wuthering Heights fans but is also a gritty and compelling story in its own right. The novel follows William (Heathcliff) on his journey from the West Yorkshire moors to Liverpool as he attempts to uncover the secrets of his past. The novel is faithful to the antihero of Bronte's novel- intense, brooding, haunted by an unknown past. Yet it is the character of Emily, the young girl who joins William on his journey, and who is surely named in honour of the author of Wuthering Heights, who steals the show.

This is a wild and often brutal novel, as well it should be, given that it walks in the footsteps of Wuthering Heights, a novel condemned by contemporary critics for depicting 'such shocking pictures of the worst forms of humanity.' Be prepared for bloodshed, violence, encounters from beyond the grave.

Those who enjoy this book should also seek out Stewart's 'Walking the Invisible', a non-fiction work exploring the lives and writing of the Brontes via a series of walks through the northern landscapes that inspired them. The book recounts the walk from Yorkshire to Liverpool, undertaken by the author in researching Ill Will

[Ceri · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel aimed to fill in the gaps and give the reader an idea of where Heathcliff went and what he did during his 3 year absence from Wuthering Heights.
The author has crafted quite a tale - positives were the vivid descriptions of the moors and countryside, and the story itself was quite engaging.
However, I did not expect such language or plot in this novel and I really found it hard to believe. Some scenes were utterly and needlessly gruesome and, although I believe that Heathcliff has the potential for seriously dark deeds, I don’t believe for a second that this story is what Emily Bronte would have wanted for Heathcliff.

I am always interested in modern versions or retellings of classic novels but feel that the modern author has to be sympathetic towards the original authors work. I felt that the author here (Michael Stewart) stamped all over Emily’s novel and gave her a massive 2 fingers.

2 stars for the engaging plot and descriptive narrative - if this hadn’t been a story based on Heathcliff I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more.

[Sally Boocock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst Wuthering Heights is my favourite book and I thoroughly rated Nelly Dean by Alison Case, I was a little disappointed with this story of what happened to Heath cliff in the years he was away.It's hard to say too much without giving the plot away so all I wii say is that it was nicely written and included a lot of things relevant to the time period but the recurrent use of a particular swear word I felt unnecessary. However the pleasure of reading an idea of what may have happened to Heath cliff still brought me great satisfaction.

[Eleanor Slater · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this book didn't have so much swearing!!! It was really offputting to see the C word bandied about so much! And I have to confess that this version of Heathcliffe was no where near the version in my head. However all that said, the plot was really engaging! I enjoyed the character of Emily and their journey together with all its many troubles was pretty riveting stuff! It just wasn't what I was expecting/hoping it would be.

[June Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really didn't want this book to end. So clever in the detail, the language, and really great storytelling of a dark and brooding Heathcliff. It's made me want to revisit Wuthering Heights to cross-reference, now that it's still fresh in my mind. Just heart-breakingly good. Honest, bold, and at times gruesome. A man driven to his absolute limit. Strongly recommend.

[Behrooz · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. I loved “Wuthering Heights” and that is why I read this book.

I was taken aback a bit with the portrayal of brutality of Heathcliffe aka William Lee. I thought that went a bit too far. I lost Heathcliffe in the story.

Ok but not great.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Living in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, we’re a stone’s throw over the moors to Haworth and Bronte Country. So you tend to think about the ill-fated lovers Cathy and Heathcliff when driving past the heather on the tops of the moors. Author Michael Stewart has done more than that, he’s created a whole new chapter for Heathcliff in his latest book, Ill Will.
It is a brave man who takes on the Bronte’s and especially the beloved Emily who has her bicentenary anniversary of her birth this year. Fear not for Stewart has done her proud and you can’t help but think this is the type of book she would have written had she been writing in the present day. There have been comments on the language in the book but let’s face it, these are the mean Northern streets of the 1790s not Austen’s Bath and people would have had the mouths of navvies, literally.
Ill Will opens just after Cathy has, rather hastily, said to Nelly it would degrade her to marry Heathcliff and a devastated and incandescent Heathcliff has headed straight onto the moors in the pouring rain, without a jacket. That’s how mad he was.
In the original text, he returns three years later with a ton of money, more jackets than he can shake a stick at and a serious slice of revenge to serve. Ill Will is the story of how he got from one to another and it’s a major page turner.
Stewart creates a living, breathing world for Heathcliff’s adventures as he seeks the truth about his heritage and starts on the road of becoming the vengeful psycho we all know and love. My only criticism and it’s tiny, is that it feels almost too fact heavy to begin with and this is slightly distracting from the story.
The introduction of new character Emily, a wise cracking 10 year old orphan, is brilliant and they form an endearing double act who navigate Yorkshire, Manchester and finally Liverpool, getting into many a scrape until the final showdown to end all showdowns which is gory and gripping in equal measures. I was reading this last bit on the train and I can only imagine my facial expressions.
The whole book is written as a letter to Cathy and it is a clever way of keeping us firmly rooted in the fact this is a companion piece to Wuthering Heights and reminding us who this character was and who he will be. Having said that, you don’t have to be familiar with the text to enjoy the book but if you haven’t read it, I defy you not to pick up a copy after you read Ill Will.
What is good for Bronte aficionados are the Easter eggs that Stewart has woven into the text and bring a smile to your face as you discover them. I’m not giving them away, they’re for you to find out.
I was lucky enough to interview the author recently and there is talk of a TV adaptation in the works, I can’t wait for this as it screams to find its way onto our screens. In the meantime, I would definitely recommend picking up a copy for a good bit of gritty escapism.