THE WORLD outside Wuthering Heights is the focus of a new Brontë-themed novel by Michael Stewart.

The multi-award-winning writer will visit Haworth on Saturday March 17 to talk about his latest book Ill Will.

The novel tells what happens during the ‘lost years’ from Emily Brontë’s famous story, after her anti-hero Heathcliff runs off in the storm in 1780.

Stewart sets out to contrast with the close and claustrophobic world Emily created in Wuthering Heights, by portraying what was going on in the wider world away from the remote moorland farm.

In the late 18th-century the North of England was going through radical change, from a rural community to the Industrial Revolution.

This was a wild world of canals and turnpikes, where highwaymen and robbers terrorised the coach roads, and slavery was gradually being overturned by abolitionism.

Michael Stewart will be the West Lane Baptist Centre on Saturday at 2.30pm to discuss his research on the historical period of the novel.

Born and brought up in Salford, he moved to Yorkshire 1995 and is now based in Bradford.

He has written several full-length stage plays, with one of them, Karry Owky, joint winner of the King’s Cross Award for New Writing.

Stewart’s debut novel King Crow was published in 2011 and won the Guardian’s Not-the-Booker Award.

He is currently senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Huddersfield, where he is also the director of the Huddersfield Literature Festival.

The Heathcliff theme continues in Haworth on April 3 with a talk at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, entitled Who Was Heathcliff?.

A using spokesman said: “Heathcliff is undoubtedly one of the most controversial characters in English literature – loved and reviled in equal measure.

“Is Heathcliff Emily’s idea of a Romantic hero or a Gothic villain? Does he represent the revenge of the African slave? Or perhaps the Irish peasant?

“Join us for a fascinating talk, exploring the origins and identity of Heathcliff and make up your own mind!”

The talk, which is free with admission to the museum, will be held at both 11.30am and 2pm.

The Brontë Parsonage Museum is this year celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Heathcliff’s creator, Emily.

Visit bronte.org.uk/whats-on or call 01535 640192 for further information about the events.