Nelly Dean

See my full review at The Emerald City Book Review. Even though I very much enjoyed Nelly's story as a novel in itself, I didn't find it quite worked as a convincing extension of Wuthering Heights, which remains an astonishing singularity in fiction. At the same time, I don't think it would work as a standalone either – readers need to at least be very familiar with the plot of the earlier novel, or they will be baffled by certain references. The drawback of that is that readers who are looking for a repeat of the passion and drama of Wuthering Heights will not find it here, and might be disappointed.

If you can accept it on its own terms, though, you might be absorbed by this version of Nelly's story as I was. The characters touched my heart, the story drew me in, and the language was unobtrusively artful. I'm very much looking forward to whatever Alison Case writes next, and I hope it's going to be a true original this time. She clearly has much to offer.

Nelly Dean by Alison Case


Billed as a return to Wuthering Heights, Nelly Dean is the story of WH from the point of view of the servant who partially narrated the story. In it, Nelly has written her story down addressed to Mr Lockwood without sending it.


I think the most important thing about this is whether it adds to the story of WH, and out of the #backstairs books I've read, I think this one adds the most to the story. Nelly is a fully imagined character who sheds a great deal of light on Mr Earnshaw and particularly on Hareton who she has a really close, motherly relationship with. She also has a relationship with Hindley and sheds light on the way that he degenerates due to alcohol. The book doesn't go into a great detail about Heathcliffe and Cathy's relationship, but I don't think it needs to. However, it brings in all the themes of the moors, doomed love and the supernatural in anyway.


Aside from the WH characters, the author also brings Bodkin, the son of the family doctor who is a friend and advisor to Nelly. He brings in a welcome outside perspective to a story that can seem insular with its settings of the home and the Moor. The story can be heartbreaking at times, especially when Nelly is seperated from Hareton but her relationship with Bodkin often lightens the book without taking away the tragedy of the situation.