Emily Brontë · 1847 · First edition text, 1847
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights (1847) is narrated by an outsider, Mr. Lockwood, who gets the story of Heathcliff and Catherine secondhand from a housekeeper — a novel built on other people’s retellings. The Critical Thinker reading companion in IO reader flags where those retellings might be shaping what you’re told to believe.
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PART I · PARAGRAPH
1801—I have just returned from a visit to my landlord—the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist’s Heaven—and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name.
1801—I have just returned from a visit to my landlord—the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.
Wuthering Heights · Emily Brontë
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The facts
| Length | about 115,900 words · 5,630 sentences |
|---|---|
| In sentence cards | about 375 minutes |
| Difficulty | steady |
| First line | 1801—I have just returned from a visit to my landlord—the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. |
| Themes | Chapters 1–17 · Chapters 18–34 |
Is Wuthering Heights hard to read?
It's told through two unreliable narrators and jumps in time, which trips up some readers. In sentence cards it's about 375 minutes.
Which translation is this?
None needed — the original 1847 English text, public domain.
How long is Wuthering Heights?
About 115,900 words; roughly 5,630 sentences.
Read Wuthering Heights in IO reader
Colophon
Text: First edition text, 1847, from Project Gutenberg (pg:768). Cover: Standard Ebooks CC0 cover, emily-bronte/wuthering-heights. Reviewed 2026-09-04.