Wuthering Heights is now a classic of English literature, but back in the Victorian era it was controversial because of its unusually stark depiction of mental and physical cruelty, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals regarding religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights was first published in London in 1847 by Thomas Cautley Newby, appearing as the first two volumes of a three-volume set that included Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey. The authors were printed as being Ellis and Acton Bell; Emily's real name did not appear until 1850 when it was printed on the title page of an edited commercial edition. Wuthering Heights is the story of the troubled orphan Heathcliff and his doomed love for Catherine Earnshaw. In 1801, Lockwood, a wealthy young man from the South of England, who is seeking peace and recuperation. He visits his landlord, Heathcliff, who lives in a remote moorland farmhouse, Wuthering Heights. Snowed in, Lockwood is grudgingly allowed to stay and is shown to a bedchamber, where he notices books and graffiti left by a former inhabitant named Catherine. He falls asleep and has a nightmare, in which he sees the ghostly Catherine trying to enter through the window. At sunrise, Heathcliff escorts Lockwood back to Thrushcross Grange. After his visit to the Heights, Lockwood becomes ill and is confined to his bed for some length of time. Listen online to free English audiobook "Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë on our website to experience one of the greatest novels of the Victorian era.
