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Wuthering Heights

Audiobook
2 of 3 copies available
2 of 3 copies available

The sole novel of Emily Brontë, who died a year after its publication at the age of thirty, Wuthering Heights is one of the most original classics in the canon of English literature. Set amid the wild and stormy Yorkshire moors, it is the tale of childhood playmates who grow into soul mates, and whose tempestuous natures and obsessive love eventually destroy them and those around them.

High on a windy hill, the old gothic manor of Wuthering Heights is the ancestral home of the lordly Earnshaw family. When kind Mr. Earnshaw adopts Heathcliff, a wild child from the slums, he unwittingly sets in motion a cycle of love and revenge that will possess his family for a generation. Heathcliff is despised and abused by Earnshaw's son and heir, Hindley, who views him as a rival. But Heathcliff's tempestuous nature finds its match in Earnshaw's daughter, Catherine, and the two become inseparable.

When Hindley becomes master of the estate, he forces Heathcliff to work as a degraded hired hand. Cathy, now divided from Heathcliff by social status, decides to marry the civilized Edgar Linton in hopes of gaining leverage to protect Heathcliff from her brother. To her despair, Heathcliff disappears; but he returns a few years later, now a wealthy gentleman, intent on using his new power to ruin Hindley, Edgar, and anyone who dared to drive a wedge between him and Cathy.

Fraught with psychological tension and supernatural atmosphere, Wuthering Heights is a haunting tale of the exalted heights and destructive depths of human passion.

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  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This audiobook offers a good introduction to Bront‘'s romantic tale of the tormented relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy, two of the best known protagonists in nineteenth-century literature. Nadia May gives a spirited reading; she characterizes voices with enthusiasm but handles female voices more successfully than male ones. In all, May's overall tone is so strident that it becomes somewhat irritating. C.R.A. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Carolyn Seymour conducts a graceful dance over the stormy moors in her performance of this dark, complex novel. Readers who kept a safe distance from the gruff Heathcliff in other versions of the book may fall for his tormented soul in this production. Seymour's rendition of this iconic character makes Heathcliff a simultaneously loathsome and lovable figure. From Mr. Lockwood, who frets his way into Heathcliff's life when he moves to nearby Thrushcross Grange, to Mrs. Dean's gossipy twitters, to "vinegar-faced" Joseph's derisive mutterings, Seymour's narration shines when she takes on the less-than-warm cast who populate Wuthering Heights and its surrounding environs. Her snappy dialogue and blend of sharp humor and compassion for the characters make this audiobook a fine view of a classic. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 13, 2005
      The main drama in Bronte's novel happens in a long narrative told by an elderly housekeeper to a convalescing new tenant. This story-within-a-story setup makes it well suited for audio adaptation, as Scales takes the housekeeper's part and relates the past, while West performs as the tenant and describes the present. Scales primarily uses a folksy lower-class accent, but she also makes her voice harsh and threatening when speaking as Heathcliff, the surly man at the novel's heart. West, as the bewildered tenant, manages to sound both nervous and pretentious, but his part is fairly small, especially with this abridgment, so he mostly serves to provide transitions for the housekeeper's story. The extensive abridgment generally deletes sentences and phrases rather than entire paragraphs or sections. One drawback for the audio format is the difficulty of clarifying the novel's convoluted plot and family tree, since it's harder to search back through long CD tracks than through earlier chapters of the paperback. While a little of the depth of Bronte's writing is lost in abridgment, the novel's emotional core remains intact and wrenching, and the actors' heartfelt interpretations make it easy to imagine being curled up by a warm fire listening to an absorbing tale. In June, Penguin Audio remastered and released on CD for the first time nine other Penguin Classics: Crime and Punishment, Dracula, Frankenstein, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Tale of Two Cities.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Slamming doors. Jangling of keys. The whispery, husky voice of a man on his deathbed. The anguish of a selfish woman realizing her paramour has overheard her lack of faith. The sound effects of this production create a completely absorbing experience. Appropriately haunting pieces of music connect the episodes, and the ensemble cast is perfectly matched to deliver the characters of The Grange and Wuthering Heights. The recording features outstanding performances by Amanda Root as the high-strung, na•ve Cathy and John Duttine as the dark and ultimately cruel Heathcliff. Duttine's masterful scene of Heathcliff's morbid visit to Cathy's grave is psychologically rich and truly chilling. R.F. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:880
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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