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Reading lists

100 must-read classics, as chosen by our readers

Ask Penguin Wuthering Heights 2

Interviews

Ask Penguin Podcast: Why I wanted to adapt Wuthering Heights – Emerald Fennell

Best Wuthering Heights Adaptation-1

Features

The greatest film and TV adaptations of Wuthering Heights

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Introducing the Vintage Collector’s Classics series

Gothic literature (1)

A guide to Gothic literature

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Children's reading lists

The best classic love stories for young readers

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Penguin Classics at 75: five landmark books that shaped the iconic series

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The UK’s best literary days out for bookworms and readers

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The greatest walks in literature

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7 brilliant authors who wrote their best books late in their careers

Reading Remedy: what to read to transport you to a good night out

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Reading Remedy: books to help you deal with unrequited love

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Where to start with the Brontës

Wuthering Heights

film tie-in

Emily Brontë’s only novel and a gothic classic - a gripping story of obsession, revenge, and tragedy - now the feature film "Wuthering Heights" from Emerald Fennell, which captures the spirit of this epic love story and stars Margot Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. 
 
Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, situated on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before. What unfolds is the tale of the intense love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Catherine, forced to choose between passionate, tortured Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton, surrenders to the expectations of her class. As Heathcliff’s bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal are visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.

Emily Brontë (1818-48). Best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, and a collection of surviving poems, she remains one of the most intensely original and passionate voices in English literature.

‘Be with me always – take any form – drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!’ 
 
Emily Brontë's novel of impossible desires, violence and transgression is a masterpiece of intense, unsettling power. It begins in a snowstorm, when Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter at Wuthering Heights. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before: the intense passion between the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, her betrayal of him and the bitter vengeance he now wreaks on the innocent heirs of the past.

No Coward Soul Is Mine

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books 
 
Yes, as my swift days near their goal, 
’Tis all that I implore; 
In life and death, a chainless soul, 
With courage to endure. 
 
In this new selection of Emily Brontë’s heart-rending poems, we uncover a soul unafraid to confront mortality, tragedy and the wild cruelty – and beauty – of nature. These verses capture her profound passion and indomitable spirit, plumbing the depths of the human heart and revealing the raw power of Brontë’s poetic genius.

Yes, as my swift days near their goal, 
’Tis all that I implore; 
In life and death, a chainless soul, 
With courage to endure. 
 
In this new selection of Emily Brontë’s heart-rending poems, we uncover a soul unafraid to confront mortality, tragedy and the wild cruelty – and beauty – of nature. These verses capture her profound passion and indomitable spirit, plumbing the depths of the human heart and revealing the raw power of Brontë’s poetic genius.

Read the dark passionate story of love and obsession between Cathy and Heathcliffe that inspired the new film, in this deluxe edition with foiled covers, marbled endpapers, sprayed edges, beautiful paper and finished with a silk ribbon. 
 
This is the tale of two families both joined and riven by love and hate. Cathy is a beautiful and wilful young woman torn between her soft-hearted husband and Heathcliff, the passionate and resentful man who has loved her since childhood. 
The power of their bond creates a maelstrom of cruelty and violence which will leave one of them dead and cast a shadow over the lives of their children. 
 
This hardback is part of VINTAGE COLLECTOR’S CLASSICS, a series of luxurious books especially crafted for collectors and fans of beautiful special editions. Discover timeless classics beautifully bound for every bookshelf. 
 
JOIN THE OBSESSION 
'These might be the most beautiful books I've ever seen? Get them in an art gallery' 
'Love this collection ' 
'I must have all of them' 
'Our beloved classics with sprayed edges too! They are absolutely STUNNING!'

Emily Brontë was born on 30 July 1818. Her father was curate of Haworth, Yorkshire, and her mother died when she was five years old, leaving five daughters and one son. In 1824 Charlotte, Maria, Elizabeth and Emily were sent to Cowan Bridge, a school for clergymen's daughters, where Maria and Elizabeth both caught tuberculosis and died. The children were taught at home from this point on and together they created vivid fantasy worlds which they explored by writing stories. Emily worked briefly as a teacher in 1938 but soon returned home. In 1846, Emily’s poems were published alongside those of her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, in Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. The following year Wuthering Heights was published. Emily Brontë died of consumption on 19 December 1848.

JOIN THE OBSESSION 
'These might be the most beautiful books I've ever seen? Get them in an art gallery' 
'The marbled paper <3 I could cry' 
'Love love love this collection ' 
'I must have all of them <3 <3' 
'Our beloved classics with sprayed edges too! They are absolutely STUNNING!' 
 
A beautiful deluxe gift edition of Emily Bronte’s dark, passionate, windswept novel with foiled covers, marbled endpapers, sprayed edges, beautiful paper and finished with a silk ribbon. 
 
This is the tale of two families both joined and riven by love and hate. Cathy is a beautiful and wilful young woman torn between her soft-hearted husband and Heathcliff, the passionate and resentful man who has loved her since childhood. The power of their bond creates a maelstrom of cruelty and violence which will leave one of them dead and cast a shadow over the lives of their children. 
 
This hardback is part of VINTAGE COLLECTOR’S CLASSICS, a series of luxurious books especially crafted for collectors and fans of beautiful special editions. Sumptuous design meets the highest quality production. Discover timeless classics beautifully bound for every bookshelf.

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child 
Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this bold edition of Wuthering Heights. 
 
Heathcliff, an orphan, is raised by Mr Earnshaw as one of his own children. Hindley despises him but wild Cathy becomes his constant companion, and he falls deeply in love with her. When she will not marry him, Heathcliff's terrible vengeance ruins them all - but still his and Cathy's love will not die . . .

Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this bold edition of Wuthering Heights. 
 
Heathcliff, an orphan, is raised by Mr Earnshaw as one of his own children. Hindley despises him but wild Cathy becomes his constant companion, and he falls deeply in love with her. When she will not marry him, Heathcliff's terrible vengeance ruins them all - but still his and Cathy's love will not die . . .

Wuthering Heights, Silas Marner, Ethan Frome & Orlando

More BBC Classics

Unabridged readings of four fictional masterpieces 
 
Contained in this collection are four more enduring classics, read in full by some of the very best audiobook narrators. With over 32 hours of irresistible storytelling, tracked by chapter for ease of navigation, this is the perfect way to immerse yourself in these iconic works. 
 
Wuthering Heights 
Emily Brontë's tempestuous tale of passions, betrayal and retribution on the wild Yorkshire moors. Read by Susan Jameson. 
 
Silas Marner 
George Eliot's heart-warming tour de force about a lonely weaver's search for redemption and hope. Read by Sean Baker. 
 
Ethan Frome 
Edith Wharton's powerful, affecting novella about a poverty-stricken young man attempting to escape a loveless marriage. Read by Joseph Ayre. 
 
Orlando 
Virginia Woolf's comic biography of a time-travelling hero whose adventures through the centuries include transforming into a heroine... Read by Clare Corbett. 
 
 
Credits: 
 
Wuthering Heights 
Read by Susan Jameson 
Produced by Ross Burman 
First broadcast on BBC Sounds, 24 August 2019 
 
Silas Marner 
Read by Sean Baker 
Produced by Martha Littlehailes 
First broadcast on BBC Sounds, 22 August 2019 
 
Ethan Frome 
Read by Joseph Ayre 
Produced by Julian Wilkinson 
First broadcast on BBC Sounds, 1 November 2019 
 
Orlando 
Read by Clare Corbett 
Produced by Simon Richardson 
First broadcast on BBC Sounds, 1 November 2019 
 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltdribution Ltd © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Unabridged readings of four fictional masterpieces 
 
Contained in this collection are four more enduring classics, read in full by some of the very best audiobook narrators. With over 32 hours of irresistible storytelling, tracked by chapter for ease of navigation, this is the perfect way to immerse yourself in these iconic works. 
 
Wuthering Heights 
Emily Brontë's tempestuous tale of passions, betrayal and retribution on the wild Yorkshire moors. Read by Susan Jameson. 
 
Silas Marner 
George Eliot's heart-warming tour de force about a lonely weaver's search for redemption and hope. Read by Sean Baker. 
 
Ethan Frome 
Edith Wharton's powerful, affecting novella about a poverty-stricken young man attempting to escape a loveless marriage. Read by Joseph Ayre. 
 
Orlando 
Virginia Woolf's comic biography of a time-travelling hero whose adventures through the centuries include transforming into a heroine... Read by Clare Corbett. 
 
 
Credits: 
 
Wuthering Heights 
Read by Susan Jameson 
Produced by Ross Burman 
First broadcast on BBC Sounds, 24 August 2019 
 
Silas Marner 
Read by Sean Baker 
Produced by Martha Littlehailes 
First broadcast on BBC Sounds, 22 August 2019 
 
Ethan Frome 
Read by Joseph Ayre 
Produced by Julian Wilkinson 
First broadcast on BBC Sounds, 1 November 2019 
 
Orlando 
Read by Clare Corbett 
Produced by Simon Richardson 
First broadcast on BBC Sounds, 1 November 2019 
 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Studying Wuthering Heights: The Complete Text and Revision Guide

Plug in and prepare for your A-Level English Literature examination with this comprehensive audio study guide to Wuthering Heights. 
 
Includes the entire, unabridged audio narration of Wuthering Heights, as well as in-depth analysis on the text, covering the key areas of: Characters, Themes, Structure and Form, Genre and Historical Context - as well as detailed chapter summaries and key quotations for your exam. 
 
This audio study guide covers the core assessment objectives of the A Level syllabus. This will give students studying these texts a strong foundation from which they can build their understanding, engage with other critical commentary and draw connections to other literary texts. Students will learn how to: 
 
- articulate informed and creative responses to the text through the exploration of themes and key ideas (AO1) 
 
- analyse writers' craft to uncover the ways in which writers convey meaning in the text (AO2) 
 
- appreciate the influence and significance of the contexts which shaped the writing and reception of the text (AO3)

Abridged Edition

Penguin Readers Level 5: Wuthering Heights (ELT Graded Reader)

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online. 
 
Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. 
 
The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary. 
 
Visit the Penguin Readers website 
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys. 
 
It is winter in Yorkshire, England. A man rides through the snow to visit a house called Wuthering Heights. While there, the man learns about Catherine, who lived in the house years before. Catherine's story of love and sadness still affects the lives of those in the present.

With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction. 
 
Wuthering Heights, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly. 
 
It is winter in Yorkshire, England. A man rides through the snow to visit a house called Wuthering Heights. While there, the man learns about Catherine, who lived in the house years before. Catherine's story of love and sadness still affects the lives of those in the present.

Seven full-cast dramatisations

The Bronte BBC Radio Drama Collection

This collection brings together seven BBC radio dramatisations of the Bronte’s novels, all adapted by bestselling author Rachel Joyce

The complete canon of the Brontë sisters' classic novels, dramatised by bestselling author Rachel Joyce 
 
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 
Orphan Jane falls in love with the enigmatic Rochester, but he is concealing a dark secret. 
 
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 
On the bleak Yorkshire moors, Heathcliff and Cathy’s elemental passion runs wild – but their obsession has devastating consequences. 
 
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë 
Determined to make her way in the world, penniless young Agnes Grey becomes a governess. 
 
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë 
Gentleman farmer Gilbert Markham is powerfully drawn to Helen Graham, the mysterious resident of Wildfell Hall. 
 
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë 
A poignant tale of friendship, romantic entanglements and turbulent times, set in Yorkshire in 1811. 
 
Villette by Charlotte Brontë 
Leaving England to teach in Villette, Lucy Snowe experiences the pangs of unrequited love. 
 
The Professor by Charlotte Brontë 
As a teacher at a boarding-school in Belgium, William Crimsworth encounters trouble and true love. 
 
Adapted by Rachel Joyce, these radio dramas boast star casts including Ellie Kendrick, Amanda Hale, Tom Burke, Lesley Sharp, Paul Venables, Robert Lonsdale, Anna Maxwell Martin, Ben Batt and Chloe Pirrie. 
 
Also included is a one-hour bonus programme featuring Rachel Joyce in conversation with producer Tracey Neale.

A full-cast BBC radio dramatisation

A new full-cast dramatisation of Emily Bronte’s classic novel adapted by bestselling author Rachel Joyce

Chloe Pirrie and Ben Batt star in this stunning dramatisation of Emily Brontë's classic, adapted by bestselling author Rachel Joyce 
 
When homeless orphan Heathcliff is brought to the isolated, storm-swept farmhouse of Wuthering Heights, he sparks very different emotions in the children of the house, Hindley and Cathy. While Hindley instantly hates him and makes his life miserable, Heathcliff finds a soulmate in Cathy and the two spend days playing together on the wild Yorkshire moors. 
 
Inseparable as children, passionately in love as adolescents, they are everything to each other – until Cathy meets the wealthy, handsome Edgar Linton and agrees to marry him. Consumed by jealousy and resentment, Heathcliff flees, returning three years later rich and seeking revenge. 
 
Bitter and cruel, he vows to destroy everyone who has hurt him – and his hatred and vengeance will ruin the lives of two generations before it runs its course… 
 
First published in 1847, Wuthering Heights scandalized Victorian readers with its shocking portrayal of obsession and doomed love. This radio production, dramatised by Rachel Joyce, retains all the force and intensity of Emily Brontë’s masterpiece. 
 
 
Cast 
Nelly……………………Emma Fielding 
Young Cathy……………………Rosie Boore 
Young Heathcliff……………………Reuben Bainbridge 
Hindley……………………Luke Bailey 
Mr Earnshaw……………………Clive Hayward 
Joseph……………………Philip Bretherton 
Frances/Mary (Servant girl)……………………Lauren Cornelius 
Edgar/Linton (adult)……………………Ryan Whittle 
Servant 1/Priest……………………Ryan Early 
Servant 2……………………Philip Bretherton 
Adult Cathy……………………Chloe Pirrie 
Adult Heathcliff……………………Ben Batt 
Isabella……………………Kerry Gooderson 
Hareton……………………Ruben Cryer/Tom Glynn-Carney 
Dr Kenneth……………………Clive Hayward 
Linton (Young child)……………………Charlie Brand 
Zillah (Servant)……………………Georgie Glen 
Catherine (adult)……………………Bryony Hannah 
Linton (Older child)……………………Oliver Zetterstrom 
 
Produced and Directed by Tracey Neale 
Production Coordinator: Joanne Hopper 
Studio Managers: Cal Knightley, Anne Bunting and Jenni Burnett

Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Villette

The Brontë Sisters (Boxed Set)

Jane Eyre | Wuthering Heights | The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | Villette 
 
This stunning box set brings together the Brontë sisters' four greatest novels in beautiful Penguin editions designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. 
 
 
From the bleak moors of Wuthering Heights to the Belgian capital in Villette, and the mysterious, gloomy country estates of Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, these four novels of passion and struggle show the most famous siblings in literature at the peak of their powers.

Jane Eyre | Wuthering Heights | The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | Villette 
 
2016, the bicentennial of Charlotte's birth, will be the big anniversary year for the Brontë sisters. To celebrate, we're publishing their four greatest works in this boxed set of lavish, clothbound editions, designed by Penguin's own award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. 
 
From the bleak moors of Wuthering Heights to the Belgian capital of Villette, and the mysterious, gloomy country estates of Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, these four novels show the most famous siblings in literature at the peak of their powers.

Wuthering Heights (Vintage Classics Bronte Series)

Part of the Vintage Classics Brontë Series: three sisters, three major novels, beautifully designed

Read Emily Brontë powerful tale of love and obsession that inspired the new film. 
 
'May you not rest, as long as I am living. You said I killed you - haunt me, then' 
 
Wuthering Heights is the tale of two families both joined and riven by love and hate. Cathy is a beautiful and wilful young woman torn between her soft-hearted husband and Heathcliff, the passionate and resentful man who has loved her since childhood. 
The power of their bond creates a maelstrom of cruelty and violence which will leave one of them dead and cast a shadow over the lives of their children. 
 
Emily Brontë's novel remains a stunningly original and shocking exploration of obsessive passion. 
 
VINTAGE CLASSICS BRONTË SERIES: beautiful editions, three iconic stories, three extraordinary women.

Emily Bronte’s Tale of all-consuming love is an omnipotent force to be reckoned with. It’s an intoxicating read

A beautiful gift, and perfect gems for bookworms.

A dark and passionate tale of tortured but enduring love... Mesmerising

This brilliantly atmospheric Yorkshire saga has only one drawback - Emily never wrote another novel. For me, it is both fantastic but also true to life because the protagonists have such believably fierce emotions

When I was 16 I read Wuthering Heights for the first time, and I read it as a kind of oracle; that life is worth nothing if it is not worth everything. Disaster does not matter, intensity does. You can dilute Wuthering Heights, as Mills &amp; Boon and musicals have done. But if you are honest, you cannot escape its central stark premise; all or nothing. The all is not Heathcliff - that is the sentimental version. The all is what Heathcliff represents, which is life itself

Only Emily Brontë exposes her imagination to the dark spirit

Hers...is the rarest of all powers. She could free life from its dependence on facts...by speaking of the moor make the wind blow and the thunder roar

Commonly thought of as 'romantic', but try rereading it without being astonished by the comfortableness with which Brontë's characters subject one another to extremes of physical and psychological violence

Lambasted when it came out as irredeemably perverse and, I quote, as practically "French"'

The greatest love story ever told, Heathcliff the hero being a wild, stormy, gothic fellow who will not rest until his beloved Cathy is in his arms again, even though she died some years previously. My favourite moment comes when he bribes the sexton who buried Cathy to bury him next to her, with the sides of their coffins left open, so when they're dug up 50 years hence nobody will know which bones are his, and which are hers

Rediscover Emily Bronte's powerful tale of love, violence and obsession. 
 
'May you not rest, as long as I am living. You said I killed you - haunt me, then' 
 
Wuthering Heights is the tale of two families both joined and riven by love and hate. Cathy is a beautiful and wilful young woman torn between her soft-hearted husband and Heathcliff, the passionate and resentful man who has loved her since childhood. The power of their bond creates a maelstrom of cruelty and violence which will leave one of them dead and cast a shadow over the lives of their children. 
 
Emily Brontë's novel remains a stunningly original and shocking exploration of obsessive passion. 
 
VINTAGE CLASSICS BRONTE SERIES - beautiful editions, three iconic stories, three extraordinary women.

The Night is Darkening Round Me

'... ever-present, phantom thing; 
My slave, my comrade, and my king' 
 
Some of Emily Brontë's most extraordinary poems 
 
Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. 
 
Emily Brontë (1818-1848). Brontë's Wuthering Heights and The Complete Poems are available in Penguin Classics

Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition

'May you not rest, as long as I am living. You said I killed you - haunt me, then' 
 
Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before: of the intense passion between the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and her betrayal of him. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.

Penguin Classics

Emily Brontë (1818-48) along with her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, is one of the most significant literary figures of the 19th century. She wrote just one strikingly innovative novel but was also a gifted and intense poet. 
 
Pauline Nestor teaches English at Monash University, Australia. Lucasta Miller was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. 
 
In a house haunted by memories, the past is everywhere ... 
 
As darkness falls, a man caught in a snowstorm is forced to shelter at the strange, grim house Wuthering Heights. It is a place he will never forget. There he will come to learn the story of Cathy: how she was forced to choose between her well-meaning husband and the dangerous man she had loved since she was young. How her choice led to betrayal and terrible revenge - and continues to torment those in the present. How love can transgress authority, convention, even death.

The Complete Poems

In her introduction, Janet Gezari discusses issues of dating and authenticity that arise with Brontë's poems, and the ways in which the Gondal poems relate to the lost prose narratives on the same subject.

Emily Bronte (1818-1848) published only one novel, Wuthering Heights (1847), a story of doomed love and revenge. But that single work places has its place among the masterpieces of English literature. Some of her best lyrics are also rated with the best in English poetry.

The poems of Emily Jane Brontë are passionate and powerful works that convey the vitality of the human spirit and of the natural world. Only twenty-one of her poems were published during her lifetime - this volume contains those and all others attributed to her. Many poems describe the mythic country of Gondal and its citizens that she imagined with Anne, and remain the only surviving record of their joint creation. Other visionary works, including 'Remembrance' and 'No coward soul is mine', boldly confront mortality and anticipate life after death. And poems such as 'Redbreast early in the morning' and 'The blue bell is the sweetest flower' evoke the wild beauties of nature she observed on the Yorkshire moors, while also examining the state of her psyche.

Brontë Poems

Pocket clothbound volumes from the world's greatest poets, and with a stunning range of anthologies. Each volume has an elegant jacket, full cloth sewn binding, silk ribbon marker and headbands, with gold stamping on front and spine and decorative endpapers. In size, price and presentation they make ideal gifts and are a joy to read and collect. More than eighty titles in print.

An exciting edition to Everyman's Library: a new series of small, handsome hardcover volumes devoted to the world's classic poets. Our books have twice as many pages as Bloomsbury Classics' 128pp. The binding, paper and production is visibly superior in every way to that of Bloomsbury.

* In size, price, and elegant packaging, these books will make ideal gifts * Beautiful 3-colour jacket designed to give a uniform look * Unique and highly distinctive black-and-white pattern on each spine * Full-cloth, flexible covers * Sewn bindings * Silk ribbon markers and headbands * Gold stamping on front and spine * Decorative patterned endpapers * Newly designed typographic settings in classic typefaces * Portable format-size 6 1/4 x 4 ins (15. 75 x 10. 25 cm) * Cream wove acid free paper * 256pp each volume

The finest editions available of the world's greatest classics from Homer to Achebe, Tolstoy to Ishiguro, Proust to Pullman, printed on a fine acid-free, cream-wove paper that will not discolour with age, with sewn, full cloth bindings and silk ribbon markers, and at remarkably low prices. All books include substantial introductions by major scholars and contemporary writers, and comparative chronologies of literary and historical context.

Emily Brontë’s only novel, a classic of English literature and Gothic fiction set on the Yorkshire moors. It tells the intense, destructive love story between Heathcliff, an adopted foundling, and Catherine Earnshaw, whose forced separation leads to revenge and tragic consequences. 
 
'As a first novel, there is very little that can compare to it. Even Shakespeare took over a decade to reach the clifftop extremities of King Lear' 
Sarah Waters

Gothic, ghostly and glorious. Emily Brontë's tragic novel about the all-consuming, destructive love between the passionate Catherine Earnshaw and the brooding Heathcliff, set against the wild Yorkshire moors; after Catherine marries for social status, Heathcliff returns seeking brutal revenge on everyone who wronged them, leading to cycles of abuse, obsession, and intertwined family feuds across generations at the estates of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, ultimately exploring themes of love, class, revenge, and the supernatural.

Leo Tolstoy

Charlotte Brönte

Gustave Flaubert

William Shakespeare

Colette

Jane Austen

Alessandro Manzoni

Radclyffe Hall

Emily Brontë

Elizabeth Gaskell

Edith Wharton

Thomas Hardy

Vanessa Kirby

Tom Burke

Rory Kinnear

Toby Jones

John Hurt

David Tennant

Kate Philips

Full Cast

12 Full-Cast Dramatisations including Wuthering Heights, now a major film

Twelve dramatisations of the best love stories ever written, performed by star casts 
 
Treat yourself to this stunning collection of classic stories of love, loss, obstacles overcome and desperate attraction. This is a beautiful, moving and at times thrilling listen which takes you on a journey through the greatest tales of romance ever told. These unmissable, dramatised novels feature stellar performances from fantastic casts including Vanessa Kirby, Hiftu Quasem, Kate Philips, Rory Kinnear, Toby Jones, John Hurt and David Tennant. 
 
Anna Karenina is Leo Tolstoy's powerful drama of desire, transgression and heartache. Starring Kate Philips (Wolf Hall), Alfred Enoch (Harry Potter) and Rory Kinnear (James Bond films). 
 
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is a fantastic mix of injustice, romance, passion and danger wrapped up in a glorious love story. Starring Amanda Hale (Catastrophe) and Tom Burke (Strike). 
 
Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is a masterpiece of betrayal and wantonness - the first great novel of adultery. Starring Sarah Smart (Wallander), Jude Akuwudike (Gangs of London) and James D’Arcy (Broadchurch) with John Hurt (Harry Potter) as the Narrator. 
 
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. In a town full of hatred, where the streets ring with the Capulet-Montague feud and swords are too easily drawn, Romeo and Juliet find each other, fall in love, and never let go. Starring Trystan Gravelle (Mr Selfridge), Vanessa Kirby (Mission Impossible), David Tennant (Broadchurch) and Paul Ready (Motherland). 
 
Chéri by Colette is the story of a love affair between a courtesan and a man half her age, set in Paris before the First World War. Starring Frances Barber (Silk) and Joseph Millson (The Last Kingdom) with Lindsay Duncan (Birdman) as the Narrator. 
 
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen remains one of the world’s favourite novels, dealing with the timeless issues of love, social class and money with a witty, clever - though flawed - heroine at its heart. Starring Pippa Nixon (Unforgotten), Jamie Parker (The Crown) and Toby Jones (The Detectorists). 
 
The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni is an icon of Italian literature: the story of two lovers who want nothing more than to marry but are beset by the hazards of war, bread riots and the machinations of a nameless crime lord. Starring Hiftu Quasem (Killing Eve) and Ian Dunnett Jnr (Masters of the Air). 
 
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, written in 1928, is a pioneering novel about love and attraction between women. Starring Valerie Edmond as the enigmatic Stephen. 
 
Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's iconic love story. Heathcliff and Cathy's love is the beating heart of the story, set against the backdrop of the bleak Yorkshire moors. Starring Chloe Pirrie (Temple) and Ben Batt (Shameless). 
 
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell explores social conscience, ideological difference and love in a mill town in the 1800s. Starring Emily Mortimer (The Pursuit of Love) and David Threlfall (Shameless). 
 
The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a passionate life-long love affair which breaks all the rules of the restrictive high society of 1870's New York. Starring Susan Lynch (Happy Valley) and Kellie Bright (Eastenders). 
 
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy is a story of the belief in true romance and the power of money and love. Starring Alex Tregear (Silk: The Clerk’s Room), Toby Jones (The Detectorists) and Patrick Kennedy (Boardwalk Empire). 
 
This stunning collection is packed with the best romance stories written in the last 500 years – a fully dramatised, unmissable listen featuring some of the biggest names of stage and screen. 
 
©2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Classic Love Stories: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

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