This horrific situation is filtered via a series of nested narratives, as one character recounts what was told to them by another, as is therefore not as obvious as it might be to the final reader. Joseph was an elderly, nay, an old man: very old, perhaps, though hale and sinewy. ‘The Lord help us!' he soliloquised in an undertone of peevish displeasure, while relieving me of my horse: looking, meantime, in my face so sourly that I charitably conjectured he must have need of divine aid to digest his dinner, and his pious ejaculation had no reference to my unexpected advent. Social class is writ large all over the book, and indeed, Heathcliff shows nothing but contempt for the middle classes, the people who took him in and wants to make everyone pay for the fact that he was of lower status. He does this by ensuring that he and his kin inherit all the land and belongings of those he detests, while ensuring those same people were brought low and made to toil in the fields. This is his revenge. Joseph said, when he was a a teenager that Heathcliff had his foot in the first part of the Broad Way to destruction, a warning and a biblical reference to what happens to those who take the easy path or the hard path in the life. The broad way is the easy path. It is the road to hell. Everyone’s heard of Wuthering Heights - the love story of Heathcliff and Catherine - but do most people know that it’s not really a love story? I came to this book, having heard of it, and by extension the movie, for decades. I have always sterered clear of it, thinking it a slushy romance. I could not have been more wrong. If I were to sum it up it succinctly it would be that it’s about the obsession of loss, much like Hamlet. It’s written in the Gothic genre, so think Poe, but far more terrifying, because of how real it feels, yet completely surreal at the same time. As I read it I thought the characters could not get any worse but they kept surpassing my expectations. In fact, my husband asked me as I was getting towards the last few chapters of the book if there was any redemption and I had to say ‘nope, they’re all truly awful human beings’. It had peaked his interest so much that he’s even going to read it and he never reads books. Whet are ye for?' he shouted. 'T' maister's dahn i' t' fowld. Goa rahnd by th' end ut' laith, if yah went tuh spake tull him.'2

Emily Brontë's only novel endures as a work of tremendous and far-reaching influence. The Penguin Classics edition is the definitive version of the text, edited with an introduction by Pauline Nestor.

Retailers:

By this curious turn of disposition I have gained the reputation of deliberate heartlessness; how undeserved, I alone can appreciate. He evidently wished no repetition of my intrusion. I shall go, notwithstanding. It is astonishing how sociable I feel myself compared with him. Edited with an Introduction and notes by PAULINE NESTOR Preface by LUCASTA MILLER Read more Details Heathcliff either is, or is possessed by, a demon. The book is a supernatural gothic-horror tale. That he is, or is possessed by, a demon is the reason for his violent temper and his psychopathic cruelty. Perhaps they are but in doing so they alter the public's perception of the book and we end up thinking things about the book which are not true.

Mr. Heathcliff and his man climbed the cellar steps with vexatious phlegm: I don't think they moved one second faster than usual, though the hearth was an absolute tempest of worrying and yelping. Anne Bronte was born at Thornton in Yorkshire on 17 January 1820, the youngest of six children. That April, the Brontës moved to Haworth, a village on the edge of the moors, where Anne’s father had become the curate. Anne’s mother died soon afterwards. She was four when her older sisters were sent to the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge, where Maria and Elizabeth both caught tuberculosis and died. After that, Anne, Charlotte, Emily and Branwell were taught at home for a few years, and together, they created vivid fantasy worlds which they explored in their writing. Anne went to Roe Head School 1835–7. She worked as a governess with the Ingham She never opened her mouth. I stared--she stared also. At any rate, she kept her eyes on me in a cool, regardless manner, exceedingly embarrassing and disagreeable. So other than the original confusion with the relations of the characters and the struggles of understanding Joseph’s accent, I had no other problems with this book. I loved the drama, I loved the gothic feeling surrounding the (very highly detailed) settings, and I loved seeing the difference between the society then and now. Emily Bronte lived from 1818 to 1848. Although she wrote only Wuthering Heights and about a dozen poms she is accepted as one of the most gifted writers ever. Perhaps the intensity of her writing grew out of the extraordinary pressures of her home life.Anne Bronte, who was born in 1820, was brought up in the Yorkshire village of Haworth where her father was curate. She was educated at home and, as a child, she invented with her sister Emily the imaginary world of Gondal, for which she wrote copious chronicles and poems.

When he saw my horse's breast fairly pushing the barrier, he did pull out his hand to unchain it, and then suddenly preceded me up the causeway, calling, as we entered the court,-- The book is fascinating, dark, and gothic, with two mansions, Thrushcross Grange, the family home of the Linton’s, and the dark and mysterious Wuthering Heights, ancestral home of Cathy’s family, the Earnshaws, and the Yorkshire moors between them. They’re like three more characters in the story. I obeyed; and hemmed, and called the villain Juno, who deigned, at this second interview, to move the extreme tip of her tail, in token of owning my acquaintance. So it has been for more than a century. Nobody should miss this strangest and strongest of English novels, so hauntingly beautiful and intensely poetical in its dark and eerie otherness. By the way, don't miss Emily Brontë's poems, or a good selection of them.

Before passing the threshold, I paused to admire a quantity of grotesque carving lavished over the front, and especially about the principal door; above which, among a wilderness of crumbling griffins and shameless little boys, I detected the date ‘1500,' and the name ‘Hareton Earnshaw.' I would have made a few comments, and requested a short history of the place from the surly owner; but his attitude at the door appeared to demand my speedy entrance, or complete departure, and I had no desire to aggravate his impatience previous to inspecting the penetralium.

It is a novel that earns its title as a literary classic, never to go out of style. Though horse and carriage may no longer be the main mode of transportation in today's society, it still imparts some valuable insights. This book taught me a valuable lesson as a teenager that I still interpret to this day as an adult: Just because you love someone, does not mean you should be with them (if it isn't healthy and destructive). Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling. 'Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones. Wuthering Heights is commonly thought of as "romantic", but try rereading it without being astonished by the extremes of physical and psychological violence' Jeanette Winterson One of English literature’s classic masterpieces—a gripping novel of love, propriety, and tragedy. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American ReadThrushcross Grange is my own, sir,' he interrupted, wincing. 'I should not allow any one to inconvenience me, if I could hinder it--walk in!' The 'walk in' was uttered with closed teeth, and expressed the sentiment, 'Go to the Deuce': even the gate over which he leant manifested no sympathizing movement to the words; and I think that circumstance determined me to accept the invitation: I felt interested in a man who seemed more exaggeratedly reserved than myself. Part of a series of vintage recordings taken from the Penguin Archives. Affordable, collectable, quality productions - perfect for on-the-go listening. Read more Details Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling. ‘Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones.