A leather-bound copy of Wuthering Heights. Cover art by Jessica Hische, cover design by Jo Obarowski, book design by Patrice Kaplan.

So this is what I decided to read for the holidays. I’ve been wanting to read novels from the Brontë sisters since I haven’t heard anything about their works and I find it a real treat to go into a novel blind, not having any notion of what it’s about or what to expect. I’m also very interested to see how one sister’s writing style differed from the others, so I was really excited to start reading this one.

Unfortunately, the only thing Christmassy about Wuthering Heights is that you’d probably enjoy it best during a snowstorm. (At least I would imagine so; we never get any snow here and it’s been all sunshine for days now.) This is one dark and gloomy book, but don’t get me wrong – I am enjoying it immensely.

You know how some neighborhoods have that one weird family that everyone wants to avoid? And everyone has some story or speculation explaining why they’re like that? That’s precisely what this book is. I like how the novel opened with Mr. Lockwood’s first encounter with the strange characters living in Wuthering Heights. I found myself quite confused, just as the protagonist was, by their unnatural, almost uncivilized mannerisms and queer interactions. Lockwood would later find someone who could shed light on the grim events that had transpired on the premises in decades past, and the story just gets more and more addictive from there. Every chapter reveals a part of the family’s dark history that aids you in understanding how their relationships deteriorated over time; and the more you find out, the more you want to know.  Stories about old secrets of old families are always fascinating, especially if they’re weird. So although I’m only nine chapters in, I can already tell this will be a very good read.