Emily Brontë's only novel was published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. "Wuthering Heights" tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and many around them.

Now considered a classic of English literature, "Wuthering Heights" was met with mixed reviews by critics when it first appeared, with many horrified by the stark depictions of mental and physical cruelty. Though Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" was originally considered the best of the Brontë sisters' works, many subsequent critics of "Wuthering Heights" argued that its originality and achievement made it superior.