The English collection
Wuthering Heights
The novel
A stranger arrives on the Yorkshire moors and hears the tangled history of two neighbouring families. Through their fierce attachments and conflicts, Emily Brontë explores belonging, exclusion and the dangerous desire to possess another person.
A way into the book
From the introduction
In 1801, a newcomer to the Yorkshire moors calls on his landlord and congratulates himself on finding a fellow recluse. His confidence outruns his understanding. This awkward visit begins Wuthering Heights, a novel in which entering a house is easier than knowing what has happened inside it. Expect fierce attachments, humiliations and domestic violence, but also dry comedy and sharply observed household routines. The landscape matters as much for its distances, weather and difficult journeys as for its beauty. These are inhabited moors: someone owns the land, someone works it, and someone decides who may cross the threshold.
An excerpt from the original Read Classics introduction. The Android preview contains the complete introduction and Chapter I.
Inside the illustrated edition
The art of the story · Wuthering Heights
Enter the wild country
Wind-bent trees, weathered stone, a sky alive with light. Ten atmospheric paintings open a window onto Emily Brontë’s world.
as if craving alms of the sun
The art of the story · Wuthering Heights
Listen to the night
Snow at the casement, a branch against the glass. A close, quiet painting catches the unease that lingers at the edge of the story.
the branch of a fir-tree that touched my lattice as the blast wailed by
The art of the story · Wuthering Heights
Another world within
Two children look towards a glowing room. Cold night and warm colour meet at the window.
clinging to the ledge
The art of the story · Wuthering Heights
Where the heart belongs
Heather, distance and a luminous sky. The moor becomes a landscape of feeling, painted in violet, pearl and gold.
where I woke sobbing for joy
The art of the story · Wuthering Heights
The shape of a memory
Winter light falls across linen and scattered feathers. Small things carry the presence of another place.
Bonny bird; wheeling over our heads in the middle of the moor.
The art of the story · Wuthering Heights
What words cannot hold
Pale light and an urgent embrace. Gesture carries the feeling in an intimate, softly painted scene.
in a stride or two was at her side
The art of the story · Wuthering Heights
Beyond the familiar
The last light touches the crags while the valley slips into shadow. A distant prospect invites the imagination to wander.
the whole extent of landscape besides lay in shadow
The art of the story · Wuthering Heights
A brief warmth
A fireside conversation, a small rocking chair. The novel’s younger voices find a warmer palette.
we laughed and talked so merrily
The art of the story · Wuthering Heights
The room grows smaller
A closed door changes the feeling of a room. Shadow and distance give tension a visible form.
He shut and locked it also.
The art of the story · Wuthering Heights
A page shared
Two readers, one open book, a moment of patient attention. Find the novel’s quieter colours in an intimate painted scene.
two such radiant countenances bent over the page of the accepted book
In development
The Android preview
Introduction + Chapter I · No account needed.
The Android app lets you try the typography and read the preview offline. It is not yet available for public download.
For now, you can read the introduction excerpt above. This website does not yet offer the reading sample or an interactive reader.
Explore the reading experience