In 1801 a new tenant, Mr Lockwood, visits his landlord Heathcliff at the isolated farmhouse of Wuthering Heights and finds a hostile, strange household. Snowbound for the night, he has a terrifying dream at a window, and back at his rented house the housekeeper Nelly Dean begins to tell him the history behind it.
Years earlier, Mr Earnshaw brought home a dark-skinned orphan boy from the streets of Liverpool and named him Heathcliff. He and Earnshaw's daughter Catherine grew up inseparable on the moors, while her brother Hindley came to hate the newcomer. The neighbouring Linton family of Thrushcross Grange, refined and wealthy, enters their lives and offers Catherine a very different future, setting off a chain of resentment and revenge.
The layered narration, told mostly through Nelly and Lockwood, and the novel's raw violence and passion puzzled early critics. Emily Bronte died a year after publication. It is now regarded as one of the most original novels in English, a study of obsession, class and the untamed landscape that mirrors its characters.
Book details
| Author | Emily Bronte |
|---|---|
| First published | 1847 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Classic |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 416 |
| Setting | Yorkshire moors, England, late 18th century to 1802 |
Themes
- Obsessive love
- Revenge
- Class
- Nature
- Inheritance
Who should read it
Readers drawn to dark, intense love stories and unconventional storytelling rather than tidy romance.
If you liked this, try
- Jane Eyre
- Rebecca
- Tess of the d'Urbervilles