Emily Bronte (1818 - 1848)

Perhaps the greatest writer of the three Brontë sisters - Charlotte, Emily and Anne – Emily Brontë published only one novel, WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1847), a story of doomed love and revenge. The sisters also published jointly a volume of verse, POEMS BY CURRER, ELLIS AND ACTON BELL, but only two copies of the book was sold.

Emily Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, in the north of England. Her father was the rector of Haworth from 1820. After their mother died in 1821, the children spent most of their time in reading and composition. To escape their unhappy childhood, Anne, Emily, Charlotte and their brother Branwell created imaginary worlds. Between the years 1824 and 1825 Emily attended the school at Cowan Bridge with Charlotte, and then was largely educated at home. Her father's bookshelf offered a variety of reading: the Bible, Homer, Virgil, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Scott and many others. She also had experience as a teacher and governess, and she and her sisters harbored a plan to start a girls’ school of their own.

Emily Brontë died of tuberculosis in late 1848, at the age of thirty and soon after the publication of WUTHERING HEIGHTS. After its appearance, some sceptics maintained that the book was written by her brother, on the grounds that no woman from such circumscribed life could have written such a passionate story. However, the misunderstanding was corrected by Charlotte Brontë, and Emily is now recognized as the author of this timeless classic.

Famous quotations by Emily Bronte:

Suggested sites for Emily Bronte: