An introduction to the biographical circumstances and major themes of Wuthering Heights, a novel by Emily Bront\xeb published in two volumes in 1847 \u2014 a year before her death the age of 30. It\u2019s a love story, a portrait of two families in rural northern England. Its most compelling character, Heathcliff, provokes varying reactions of sympathy and exasperation for his responses to others\u2019 mistreatment and disregard.