Emily Brontë

Writer / Poet

Brontë died at age 30, leaving the now-legendary Wuthering Heights as her only novel. Little is known about Emily's life; she was a member of the famed Brontë clan, which included her sisters Charlotte (author of Jane Eyre) and Anne (author of Agnes Grey). The three published their poetry in the 1846 book Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. (The names were pseudonyms for Charlotte, Emily and Anne.) Emily began writing Wuthering Heights in 1845 and it was published late in 1847. The book's troubled lovers, Catherine Earnshaw and the stormy Heathcliff, have become famous figures in literature.

Extra credit: Wuthering Heights has been the basis of nearly a dozen feature films and TV movies. The most famous is the 1939 film starring Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon and David Niven. A 1992 edition starred Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliff and Juliette Binoche as Catherine... As children the precocious Brontë sisters and their brother Branwell wrote long, intricately detailed stories about imaginary kingdoms they called Gondal and Angria.