The story of Heathcliff and Cathy's irrational love and suffering, as well as the destruction their passion causes to the Earnshaw and Lintons families, shocked the book's first readers, and even Emily's sister Charlotte questioned whether it was morally appropriate to create characters like Heathcliff. One of the most haunting love stories in the canon of English literature, Emily Bronte's dramatic masterwork is full of vivid characters and events that have burned themselves into our literary consciousness.