Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights was first published in London by Thomas Cautley Newby, shortly after the publication and immediate success in October 1847 of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Thomas Newby, who had been very slow to deal with Emily and Anne, finally saw the advantage of using the family connection, and published Wuthering Heights in December 1847.
The novel, a Gothic story of doomed love, hate, revenge and the supernatural, deals with the relationships of various couples in and around the farmhouse of the title.
Despite mixed reviews at the time, Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as one of the greatest novels in English literature. It is controversial for its depictions of psychological and physical abuse (including domestic violence) and its challenge to the moral, religious, and class systems of the Victorian era.
