Publication of Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is the only novel of Emily Bronte, published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Set on the bleak Yorkshire moors, it tells of the destructive love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, an orphan taken in by her father, and of how his thirst for revenge afflicts two families across generations. The story is told through a complex frame, with a visitor named Lockwood hearing the events from the housekeeper Nelly Dean. Early reviewers were shocked by its violence and passion, and some found it confusing. Emily died the following year, but the novel's reputation grew steadily, and it is now regarded as a classic of English literature.

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