Wuthering Heights

The astonishingly powerful and passionate novel by English writer Emily Brontë is one of the most mysterious works in world literature. It is the story of the doomed passion of Heathcliff, the adopted son of the owner of the estate "Wuthering Heights," and the owner's daughter, Catherine. Like her sister, Emily Brontë tragically passed away too early, leaving readers with extraordinary depictions of dark heather moors, across which human passions rage. And yet, how did the daughters of a parish priest manage to create such "ferocious and merciless natures"? These are the words of Charlotte Brontë, astonished by how her sister's work clashed with the morals of the Victorian era. A hundred years later, writer Somerset Maugham included "Wuthering Heights" in the top ten best novels in the world, and the book itself has been adapted more than fifteen times in the history of cinema (notably, the 2009 film featuring Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley in the lead roles). Emily Brontë's work still evokes conflicting feelings in readers—it's a strange novel that one can desperately love or hate after reading it.