Wuthering Heights
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season318 pages, about 6 hours: about the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbLockwood, a tenant, visits his landlord Heathcliff and dreams of a ghostly hand at the window before Nelly narrates the family history.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesThree critics, Virginia Woolf among them, set it beside Jane Eyre, 480 pages, and one also names Rebecca, 386 pages.
The case for it
on the two Catherines
“So it is with the two Catherines; never could women feel as they do or act in their manner, we say. All the same, they are the most lovable women in English fiction.”
Virginia Woolf · The Common Reader, 1925 on the moors
“the West Yorkshire moors as the almost supernatural tableaux on which this all plays out”
Jonathan Thornton · Fantasy Hive, 2026 on the landscape
“close to the putative Wuthering Heights, the wildness of it rings true”
a Substack review on the pace
“Wuthering Heights was immersive because of its pace and “page-turner”ness.”
a Substack review
The case against
on the second half
“The second half drags like a muddy hemline.”
a Substack review on Joseph’s dialect
“dialect used by the character of Joseph can make heavy work of the reading”
five stars · a book blog on the repeated names
“this made for occasionally difficult reading, which must have been intentional”
a book blog on Catherine and Heathcliff
“the selfish, spoiled and insufferable Catherine Earnshaw and her step-brother Heathcliff”
one star · a book blog
