by Emily Bronte, Tracy Dockray (illustrator)

Harper Collins, $17.99, 406 pages

This beautifully printed edition of the classic is a gift to our time. Illustrations by Tracy Dockray make this a collector’s dream. The book opens a window on the way people lived in the early nineteenth century in rural England. It is the deeply emotional story of youthful love and the twists of fate that keep the lovers apart. Heathcliff and Catherine have come to epitomize the agony of lost love. Just when a situation seems clear, there is a surprise that changes everything, adding to the suspenseful plot. It is not easy to settle on just a few words to describe the feelings the tale evokes in the reader: unforgettable, touching, and captivating are just a start. The book was first published in 1847. Unfortunately, a year later the author died at age 30. She was a poet and novelist, with //Wuthering Heights// her only novel. The romantic story has held appeal in all the time since first being published, and has become a well known and well loved classic. The stark setting and the uniquely interesting and humanly flawed characters are memorable. It is most certainly well worth reading.

Fran Byram