Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights is the perfect novel for the autumn season, its dark atmosphere fitting to these long and cold nights. Fans of Victorian novels will certainly enjoy this story, but if you do not usually read lengthy books like those by Charles Dickens this is a good novel to start with. Wuthering Heights is of course a famous nineteenth-century book, with a number of film and TV adaptations, as well as inspiring a song by Kate Bush. However if you are not familiar with the plot, the story follows Catherine and Heathcliff, star-crossed lovers of the Romeo and Juliet kind. We read about the progress of their love through Heathcliff's development from boy to man. The love story is what first attracted me to the book because I like romance novels, however it was other aspects of Catherine and Heathcliff's story that kept me wanting to read more. The plot can take a while to grab your attention because the chapters are very long, but if you have the patience to stick with it, the rest of the novel will reward you! This is because Bronte provides her readers with interesting insights into the struggles and complications that come with class differences; Heathcliff is working-class and Catherine is of a higher status. The issues that come with such a relationship, like prejudice and the expectations of family and society, make for an emotionally poignant tale. The obstacles Catherine and Heathcliff face is what really drew me in and I think that these tragic elements are what make the novel's gothic setting so effective. So, if you like stories that combine supernatural romance with troubled explorations of human nature then Wuthering Heights is the novel for you!
Submitted by Michelle
