Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights

Late one evening, Mr Earnshaw returns to his moorland home, Wuthering Heights, with a wild, dirty, black-haired boy, who he has found starving on the streets of Liverpool.

The boy, Heathcliff, grows up with the two Earnshaw children: Hindley, who hates him, and Catherine, who becomes his wild childhood playmate, and the love of his life. "Whatever our souls are made of," says Catherine, "his and mine are the same." However, Heathcliff is treated as a servant by Hindley, so Catherine marries the rich, gentle Edgar Linton instead.

Years later, when Heathcliff returns, Catherine remembers their passion for wildness and freedom. However, Heathcliff has come looking for revenge, and the terrible strength of their love for one another brings disaster to the Earnshaws and the Lintons ...

Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights. Oxford Progressive English Readers; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1992

Grade 5 (5,000 headwords)