Wuthering Heights: With Original Annotated

by Wuthering Heights

In 1801, Mr Lockwood, the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire, pays a visit to his landlord, Heathcliff, at his remote moorland farmhouse, Wuthering Heights. There he meets a reserved young woman (later identified as Cathy Linton); Joseph, a cantankerous servant; and Hareton, an uneducated young man who speaks like a servant. Everyone is sullen and inhospitable. Snowed in for the night, he reads some diary entries of a former inhabitant of his room, Catherine Earnshaw, and has a nightmare in which a ghostly Catherine begs to enter through the window. Woken by Lockwood's fearful yells, Heathcliff is troubled.

Lockwood returns to Thrushcross Grange in heavy snow, falls ill from the cold and becomes bedridden. While he recovers, Lockwood's housekeeper Ellen (Nelly) Dean tells him the story of the strange family.

Genres: Classics

Kindle Edition

Published July 9, 2021

Reviews

[Susan D · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate this book with a passion. I intensely dislike both Heathcliffe and Cathy. I know it’s a Gothic novel with preternatural and dark themes but it is unrelenting in its misery and the main protagonists are cruel, egocentric and self-absorbed. I have read it several times since my teens in order to try and understand why it is considered compelling and have found nothing in the book or its characters to induce me to change my sentiments - I simply detest the story and the people within. How anyone can argue that this is a better book than Jane Eyre is beyond me! I will not be wasting any more time reading this again!

[Rachael Colwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everyone's a jerk and miserable and making everyone else miserable. The end.

[Justin Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern cynicism meets Georgian melodrama. The antidote to Jane Austen, not the supplement.

Hilarious to read all the furious, inarticulate 1-star reviews because people must have been expecting some sort of engaging 'historical mystery romance'. Yes, WH is confused/ing, yes, it is full of abusive people, yes, the story is pretty much told in chapter 2, but you don't have to know that it was written by a small, poorer, Emily Dickinson-type recluse doomed to die at 30, to appreciate its depth of razor-sharp, cold-eyed observation and timeless depiction of passionate, weak, and generally horrible people. Guess what? In the 1800s, families were just like us! Heroes? Pah!

As a romantic melodrama, WH fails completely, because it pulls no punches. As a description of human characters and their interactions, it's been the mine of countless tributes and imitations since it was published. The Bronte sisters were amateurs and pioneers, and like pioneers, were in the presence of death every day; you don't complain because an old forest trail that some lost explorer blazed isn't paved over.

[AmyLeigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

How this has been called a love story I will never understand. It is a story of abuse, revenge and madness, and makes the readers consider whether the abused are destined to grow up and abuse others. It was enjoyable and fairly fast paced, reminds me a little of Shakespeare.

[Natasha Rostova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always 10/10

[Shayzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Luxe radio Theatre adaptation, February 2, 2026, absolutely did not follow the book at all, made this a love story.

[Natalia Paskevicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess it’s partially my fault because I thought there was more love in the story. But omfg everyone sucks. Like I can’t believe how awful everyone was. Everyone.

[Mary Villanueva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, this book could have been about 100 pages shorter and still had the same impact.

[Wilhelmina Morehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

generational yearning

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me 5 million years to finish, but I did enjoy it. The writing was my favorite part, the way she articulates feelings, emotions, etc. is unmatched.

[Angela Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is wild. It’s about family trauma and revenge, not really a romance contrary to popular belief. It’s unexpectedly funny, with complex characters you swear you’ve met before. Read it if you have time on your hands.