Product Description

In a house haunted by memories, the past is everywhere … As darkness falls, a man caught in a snowstorm is forced to shelter at the strange, grim house Wuthering Heights. It is a place he will never forget. There he will come to learn the story of Cathy: how she was forced to choose between her well-meaning husband and the dangerous man she had loved since she was young. How her choice led to betrayal and terrible revenge – and continues to torment those in the present. How love can transgress authority, convention, even death. And how desire can kill.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16967 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

About the Author
Emily Brontë (1818-48) along with her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, is one of the most significant literary figures of the 19th century. She wrote just one strikingly innovative novel but was also a gifted and intense poet.

Customer Reviews

A classic
I read this book as a schoolgirl and hated it; it was part of my school curriculum. Over ten years later, I'm reading it again and I love it! I'm seeing all the characters in a new light, and what horrible, ugly people they are. Emily Bronte does not compromise and go out of her way to create sappy, likeable characters. There's an energy and a freshness and an originality to it that I failed to see when I had to study it for my English exam. To me it was not one of the great gothic novels, which it is, though there are those who would categorise it as one of the great romances, it was just dark and dreary like its moorland setting.

Note that this edition, unlike others, does not contain an introduction, explanatory notes, footnotes, etc. While ordinarily I might consider that something of a bonus, one or more of the characters speak in a rustic English dialect, so a translation might have been nice. However, if you read it aloud, as my old English teacher suggested, (sometimes) it starts to make sense! (That's why I gave it four stars instead of five.)

So if you're not a fan of Jane or Georgette or all the wannabes that happened along afterwards, this novel just might be for you.

Complex, disturbing and haunted
Yes, this is a love story - but it's also so much more. Told through mutiple narrators, who all impose their own biases and viewpoints on the story that they're telling, this novel foregrounds issues of cruelty, love, passion, desire and death. That it was written by the reclusive, socially inept, and most probably virginal Emily Bronte underlines the problematic nature of the text. On one level it is the ultimate female fantasy, as Heathcliffe is Emily's ultimate hero (incestuously based on her brother?) yet on the other, it overturns so many of the conventions of the romantic genre in a transgressive way. The one thing that most readers agree on is the stormy, tumultuous nature of the story and the sense of peace we reach at the end. The only novel that Emily wrote (but read her poetry to savour her genius) this is still an experience that shouldn't be missed.

Captivating
I was reluctant to buy another 'Classic' novel, having been sorely disappointed by critically acclaimed - and, in my opinion, overrated - classic authors in the past, but Emily Bronte has restored my faith!
Wuthering Heights is wonderful; both original and haunting. The love between Heathcliff and Catherine is portrayed beautifully by Bronte. Despite the cruelty and selfishness of the two central characters, I couldn't help but to fall in love with them and their story. A timeless love story - and now a firm favourite of mine!