Introduction

Mr Earnshaw, master of Wuthering Heights on the Yorkshire moors, brings home from the streets of Liverpool a foundling of unknown origin and names him Heathcliff. Heathcliff and Earnshaw's daughter Catherine grow up wild together on the moors, kindred spirits: 'I am Heathcliff!' Catherine says. But after Earnshaw's death Heathcliff is abused and humiliated by Catherine's brother, and Catherine chooses to marry the refined and wealthy Edgar Linton of nearby Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff leaves in fury and returns three years later a rich man to take a cruel revenge lasting two generations: he seizes the property of both houses, marries Linton's sister and torments her, and raises his enemies' children as his servants. Catherine dies in anguish, but Heathcliff's love and hatred never rest until his death. Told through several narrators, wild and profound, it is regarded as the strangest and most powerful love story in English.