Stories that Never Leave You - by Kate Walker

When I was eleven, I was  at a very small junior school that was in an old building, where the wiring wasn't very reliable. The was in West Yorkshire where the weather was often wild, and storms could break over the hills with great drama and  force.  One day there was a huge thunderstorm, great flashes of lightning, and the lights in the whole building fused.  We were sitting in darkness, with  a lot of the girls getting scared and screaming when the thunder roared and the lightning flashed. (Not me - I have always loved storms and still do.)

To distract us from getting worried and while waiting for the electricty to be restored, the teacher - a Mr Grogan  - told us to sit quietly and he would tell us a story.  The story he told was a bout a man who returned home to his farm, high on the Yorkshire moors, bringing with him an orphan gipsy boy he has found in the streets of Liverpool . The farmer already had a son and daughter, Hindly and Catherine - and the gipsy boy's name was of course Heathcliff. This story was the beginning of the classic romantic novel  - Wuthering Heights.

I never got to hear the end of the story that day because the lights came back on before my teacher had got past the point where Heathcliff and Cathy fight, and Heathcliff runs away,  to go and make his fortune. I never learned what happened when he came back - because it was  obvious that he did come back - and I always wanted to know.  But of course most of the story of Heathcliff's revenge was probably not suitable for young children.

But the story stayed with me and I wanted to know so much about it.  It was some years later that I found a book on my mother's bookshelf and, opening it, saw the names I remembered so well. I started to read  - and didn't put it down until I had finished. It was an amazing story - but  it never had the happy ending that I had hoped for. 

I've read Wuthering Heights many times again and again since that day. I've studied it at school and at university  and never tired of it. It's a story that never really leaves my imagination, specially as the place I grew up was so close to Haworth village where the Bronte sisters  lived and where Emily Bronte  wrote Wuthering Heights in the parsonage there.

So when editorial suggested a special mini series where Presents Authors took the themes of classics of romantic fiction - Jane Eyre, Emma, Pride and Prejudice - and Wuthering Heights, I was thrilled to be asked to take part in it.  Specially when I learned that the book they wanted me to work on was my own favourite - Wuthering Heights. I've had an amazing time looking back at this great book and  honouring it by using it as the inspiration for my own Presents version of  this amazing story. I've had to make changes of course - Wuthering Heights isn't really a love story. It's a story about passion and possession and  power -  so while all those other books had happy endings already set, I had to create one for my characters. I also had to take wild, willful Cathy and dark, dangerous Heathcliff and give them the happy ever after ending that Emily Bronte's story never had.

I found it a challenge - but I loved doing it. I created the story I had always hoped for all those years ago. I didn't copy or steal from Wuthering Heights, just used the basic themes that are in the book and created a romance that stands on its own. You don't have to have read Wuthering Heights to enjoy The Return of The Stranger - you can read it entirely on its own and enjoy it. 


Last week I was back in Haworth village, talking to The Bronte Society about writing The Return of The Stranger. I met a lot of people there who had never been able to get the story of Wuthering Heights out of their minds too - and I was trilled to find that so many of them felt that way about Return of The Stranger too They loved this modernised, Presents version.  (I'm going to be sharing some of my pictures of Haworth on my own blog soon - and on the I Heart Presents blog at the begining of October.)

Oh yes - and they loved the cover too. I've posted the Presents Extra cover of The Return of the Stranger because that's the one that will be in the shops in October - but I have to share the UK cover with you as well - because  . . . . well - look at it! It's fantastic - isn't it?

I hope you enjoy The Return of the Stranger as much as they all did.

Kate Walker: Springtime – and New Beginnings

I’m celebrating today -  for a couple of reasons. First of all, I have a new book out – The Proud Wife is released in Harlequin Presents  Every new book that I have published is a real thrill. It’s a delight and an excitement that never goes away – no matter how many titles I have in my backlist. This latest, brand-new, beautiful ‘baby’ is one I’ve never seen in the shops before. It’s a ‘first’ for this title and seeing it in all its untouched beauty in a new cover, new title is a very special thrill.  A whole new beginning.

It’s one of the best things about being an author. That feeling of seeing your work in print is something that never fades – or it hasn’t for me. I may be heading for my 60^th romance title   but I always love that feeling of having a brand new book out there so that readers can find it and  - hopefully  - enjoy it.   So The Proud Wife is one reason why I’m celebrating.  I’m so happy to have this book out in the shops and  I hope that readers will love my heroine Marina and her  estranged husband  the Sicilian Prince  Pietro D’Inzeo.  I’ve been thrilled by the response to this book in the UK – it was at #1 in the bestsellers on the Mills & Boon website for 3 weeks and one reviewer called it a ‘Modern masterpiece’.

But  there’s a second reason why this month is very special for me and that involves a past book – one that I had published  last year – in  March 2010 to be precise. I’m now finally able to announce, The Konstantos Marriage Demand, has just been awarded Best Presents Extra 2010 in the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards. I just wish I could be at the RT convention this week to pick up the award but I’m in the UK and  I’m on a really tight deadline so there just wasn’t the opportunity to be there.  I’ll raise a toast to the book – and to everyone who’s going to be there anyway!

Both The Proud Wife and The Konstantos Marriage Demand  are about one of the themes I most love to write – and read about  - in romance. And that’s the theme of lovers reunited. When a couple have once been  lovers - once so very close, intimate in all ways that a man and woman can be, and then are torn apart by some action   of Fate, some terrible mistake on  the part of one – or both of them – the fact that they once cared so much makes the pain of the break-up so much worse to bear.   When  my hero and heroine have once felt a deep, passionate love and something comes along to destroy that feeling  then   where there once was a deep love, now there is a deep, deep pain. The loss of the feeling they once had leaves a real emptiness inside.   And they close themselves off from the source of that loss – the person they once loved.

 I love writing this theme because there is so much raw emotion in  the idea of second chances, of the hope of starting again,  building a new future from the shattered pieces of the old one.  So this is a really appropriate time of year for these books to come out.  Here in the UK, the real signs of Spring are starting to show. The  tulips and daffodils are coming into flower, so are the primroses, all making a brave display of colour and brightness after the long dark, cold  days  of winter. The blossom is blooming in the trees, the birds are singing and building nests and a whole new sense of life and renewal is filling the air .

I always think that this is just like a romance story. We have a saying  that  March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb – and that’s the way the story  of  lovers reunited develops.  The conflict between them – the reasons why they split up, the lack of trust,  the anger and pain that drove them apart are all like the  stormy, dark days of winter. Times when the wild winds howl and the nights are cold and bleak.  But slowly, gradually that coldness  changes and turns into  a hope of a new spring – a new beginning.   It’s not a just a new calm but  a green, golden and fertile peace. One that has the promise of potential for growth and trust – and a whole new future.

That’s why Spring has always been my favourite season   and it’s the  reason why I love reunion stories so much.  In The Proud Wife, Pietro and Marina  start out  in one of the darkest times in their lives. When the love they once shared seems to have totally disappeared, been destroyed by the tragedy that tore them apart.   Both of them believe that there is no future for them together – and they meet up in the lawyer’s office to put the final  nail in the coffin of their marriage – and sign the divorce papers. But from their very first meeting, it’s so obvious that there is still so much between them – if only they can  work through the pain of the past.

They don’t find it easy. They’re both proud, determined people. Both hurt by the past and scared of going through that pain all over again.  But they both know that no one else has ever made them feel  the way  they make each other feel.  So can they find a way to put the past behind them,  put right the mistakes they made,  and create for themselves a new future – together?

You’ll have to read The Proud Wife to find out!  Romantic Times gave this book  4.5 stars and called it  “ an emotionally charged page-turner with plenty of tension and passion.” And that sounds to me like  ‘coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb’ – just like  the month of March merging into April as Spring arrives.

You can find out more about The Proud Wife over on my web site and you can read all my latest news and the most up to date events on my blog.  I hope to see you there