Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

This is my classic for this year, though I listened to it through Audible Stories rather than reading it.

Wuthering Heights is a story of stories. It is written from the point of view of Mr Lockwood who rents Thrushcross Grange in the Yorkshire moors.  Incidentally, despite the fact I was listening to a Yorkshire accent at times, in my head "the moors" always mean West-country - either Exmoor or Dartmoor, so that's where I imagined it to be set.  Mr Lockwoods seeks out his Landlord, Heathcliff, in a nearby manor called Wuthering Heights.  After being met by various uncouth and impolite characters, when Mr Lockwood returns to the Grange, Nelly, the housekeeper tells him the story of Wuthering Heights and how each of the people there have developed into the people they are now.

The synopsis says:

Michael Kitchen gives us a masterclass in narration with this intelligent and believable performance of Emily Brontë's classic work. Listeners will be swept up in Heathcliff and Cathy's turbulent love affair, not to be released until long after the final word. 

The only novel written by Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights was originally published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and at first was thought to be the work of Emily's sister, Charlotte, the author of the classic Jane Eyre.

Wuthering Heights tells the tale of Heathcliff, a young orphaned gypsy boy, who is brought to the windswept moors of Yorkshire by Mr Earnshaw, the master of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff's childhood there is riddled with bullying and humiliation, but the master's daughter, the precocious and untameable Cathy, becomes his ally, and a childhood fondness for one another grows to a great passion.

Following a misunderstanding, Heathcliff believes that Cathy has rejected him, and he leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return after three years have passed. When he returns, now mysteriously rich, he learns of Cathy's marriage to another and vows to focus his passionate nature on merciless revenge. Heathcliff's retribution proves so destructive that left in its wake are not only his enemies, but the very object of his obsession and, ultimately, himself.

I don't know whether I like this book or not? I certainly enjoyed listening to it, Michael Kitchen narrated it very well.  And I can appreciate the the quality of the writing.  The book left me wanting more at the end of each chapter, I wanted to find out what happened next and discover the fates of the characters.  However, I didn't like the story (which may be because the characters were so believable). 

Previously, I had always thought Wuthering Heights to be a dramatic love affair between Heathcliff and Cathy, taking place on the Moors, and reading it would make my heart swoon and my eyes brighten.  In fact, this is a book about a grumpy man who was humiliated as a child, and then seeks to take out his revenge on pretty much everyone around him, to the detriment of all.  We never find out the source of Heathcliff's money, and rather than this being a good ghost story, that seems to be forgotten mostly, until it seems to convey rantings of a madman, and at the very end of the book superstitious locals.

So, I'm glad that I have now read/listened to the book, and know the story.  As I said, it was enjoyable.  It's only now that the book is finished, that I'm left someone dissatisfied.