Wuthering Heights has been everywhere in recent months. Whether it’s being shouted about from the rooftops, whispered about behind cupped hands, or shared and discussed on social media, Emerald Fennell’s new take on a literary classic has got people talking.
So, what’s the gist of all this gossip? And how did the tale find fame in the first place?
A Modern Take on a Timeless Classic: Why Wuthering Heights Is Back in the Limelight
Jacob Elordi, Margot Robbie, and Emerald Fennell have been the names on every film fan’s lips since the latest adaptation of Wuthering Heights hit big screens across the world this Valentine’s Day.
And, whether you’re a fan of this latest iteration of Brontë’s masterpiece or not, you have to admit: the marketing team did it right. Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” launched its way to the top of everyone’s must-watch list way earlier than most, thanks to a marketing strategy that went beyond simple release date promo to create a high-impact brand engine built on modern gothic typography, a relentless red colour palette, iconographic costume styling that found its way onto the red carpet and the high street, and a photographic identity shaped by this iconic story.
Unsurprisingly, the team behind the genius are no strangers to brand power. Working closely with Margot Robbie (the star in Cathy’s shoes who also delivered real-world Barbie brand moments that took over the global cultural psyche for a whole summer back in 2023), Fennell has clearly demonstrated with this latest release that she totally gets film branding, and how it can intermingle with narrative, product, meme, and fashion movement.
Thanks to her striking, curated visuals, paired with the moodily atmospheric soundtrack from Charli xcx, and countless brand collaborations, the promotion for “Wuthering Heights” (much like that of Barbie) completely took over pretty much every channel - online and otherwise - and expanded yet again our understanding of what film advertising can achieve, creating a cultural moment that allowed for complete commercial saturation.
Since the film’s release, reviews have been mixed, and it’s fair to say that if you’re a Brontë purist looking for a close adaptation, you won’t get it from Fennell (both in structure and in style). But this latest stab at the literary classic isn’t entirely unfaithful: the complications of toxic love and dark obsession that are inked into the novel’s pages are also played out on screen, just in a way that’s more likely to make you blush.
Listening to audience responses - and there are a lot - makes one thing clear: there’s no sitting on the fence about this one. Most viewers fall into one of two camps: absolute adoration, or utter disgust. But whatever your feelings about Fennell’s take, the fact that it’s found a new way to make a long-adored literary classic resonate with modern audiences - especially in an age of shrinking attention spans - is a definite win. And the fact that UK sales of Brontë’s novel have risen by a massive 469% thanks to Fennell’s film is bound to put a smile on any booklover’s face.
This year, Wuthering Heights has taken residence firmly in the limelight — arguably for the first time since Kate Bush was singing about it from those windy hills back in 1978. Since its publication in 1847, the famed story of Cathy, Heathcliff, and their love and anguish on the Yorkshire Moors, has been told and re-told almost too many times to count; there are an estimated 35+ adaptations, each one adopting a new take in reimagining this undying tale.
From the big screen to the small screen, through art, fashion, and music, the story of Wuthering Heights has taken a thousand different forms beyond the pages that first brought it into being, with the characters having broken free from their narrative to be co-opted in contemporary culture as the beloved image of “true love”. In reality, the text is far from a love story — both in Emily Brontë’s original vision, and the latest interpretation of it. In fact, Wuthering Heights has long been the source of scandal, with early critics condemning the novel’s violence, subversion of the norm, and lack of clear moral guidance. So perhaps it’s safe to say that the title has merely reclaimed its rightful place at the top of the literary gossip list.
However you feel about Robbie’s Cathy, Elordi’s Heathcliff, and Fennell’s risqué retelling, none of it would have happened without Emily Brontë, the wild moors that shaped her, and the printing technology that delivered her world to the hands of readers across the country, then across the globe.
Where It All Began: The Printing Technology Behind Wuthering Heights
A deep connection with nature is what many believe shaped Emily Brontë’s only novel, before printing technology delivered it to the masses. When Wuthering Heights was first published in 1847, UK book printing was undergoing a huge transition from traditional hand-presses (like the letterpress) to industrial, steam-powered technology — largely driven by the invention of the rotary press, patented and introduced by Richard Mark Hoe the same year.
Letterpress printing was a meticulous, hands-on craft. Individual metal letters were set by hand to form each page and, once arranged, they were inked and pressed onto paper using mechanical presses. Every page required precision and patience to produce, with no option for making quick edits or instant corrections. Any errors would mean resetting entire sections of type, which meant printing materials were valuable, and print runs had to be very carefully calculated.
The invention of the rotary press, along with the rise of stereotyping, enabled larger print runs of popular novels, and as a result made written texts more accessible. The rotary press allowed for faster, cylindrical printing which fed a continuous web of paper rather than individual sheets, significantly speeding up the process. Meanwhile, instead of having to re-typeset for every edition, printers used stereotypes (metal plates cast from a mould of the original type) to produce reprints cheaply. Mechanical ink rollers also replaced ink balls by this period, and were used to spread ink evenly over the metal type to improve print quality.
It’s with thanks to this technology that novels of the 19th century, including Wuthering Heights, were able to reach a broader audience. All that was left for Emily to do was navigate the publishing world as a woman — how difficult could that be?! Keen for her work to be judged on its own merit, rather than her sex, she chose to adopt the gender-neutral pseudonym of Ellis Bell (along with her sisters Charlotte (Currer Bell), and Anne (Acton Bell)).
These advancements in the printing process were revolutionary; particularly the rotary press, which provided an industrial-scale breakthrough that increased printing speeds by 10x and transformed printed media into a mass commodity. It’s a development that’s even subtly acknowledged in the latest “Wuthering Heights” adaptation, when Isabella’s character is introduced through her dramatic reflections on Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, placing her firmly in a culture not just shaped by literature, but by access to it.
Because by the 19th century, the works of William Shakespeare were already widely circulated in print, read and re-read by the upper and middle classes across Britain. Collections, reprints, and affordable editions meant that his plays - once performed for live audiences - had become part of a shared literary canon, kept on bookshelves in drawing rooms and private libraries.
This shift was only possible because of advances in printing and distribution. By the time Emily Brontë was writing, printed literature was no longer reserved for the elite collectors; it was becoming a part of everyday life for a growing national readership. Print didn’t just preserve stories, it created connections through narratives that could now be more widely shared. From Shakespeare to Brontë and beyond, print has always been the medium through which literary influence travels, and human connection is maintained — even now that society, and a whole generation, is largely digital-first.
Emily Brontë the Environmentalist, and Why She Would Have Loved B&B Press
Wherever you’re travelling from, a trip to the Brontë Parsonage over at Haworth will give a good sense of the wild, natural landscape that’s widely regarded as having shaped Emily Brontë’s works — not just her famed novel, but her poetry, too. Often considered “odd” and “unconventional” by her peers and contemporaries, Emily would spend hours walking on the moors with her dog, Keeper, exploring the natural environment that surrounded her home and finding her muse there. It’s common knowledge that she enjoyed a deep connection with her local landscape, the flora and fauna that would flourish, and the animals that maintained her cherished local ecosystem.
Writing at the time of the Industrial Revolution, Emily was acutely aware of the impact of change and the tensions arising from it as human progress began to reshape the natural environment she so loved, and the way people interacted with it. Her relationship with nature is well-documented, as well as shining through her works, which often place natural elements as a central character and source of connection, treat animals as individuals, and highlight the damage caused to nature by human actions. In fact, her overt admiration of the natural world has driven many modern critics to claim that, had she been alive this century, she likely would have been an active environmentalist and defender of animal rights.
Knowing what we know about her, and her attitude towards the developments that were taking place during her lifetime, it’s interesting to consider how she might feel about the changes that have continued at pace since her passing; the reshaping of the Yorkshire landscape to make way for further human development, and the advancements in technology that have made the world so much smaller. One thing we feel confident about is that, were Emily to learn that she would now have a sustainable printer just 45 miles from her doorstep, it would surely be a point of pride.
Sustainability on the Page: Modern Printing and Its Lighter Environmental Impact
If Emily Brontë’s work invites us to reflect on our relationship with the natural world, it also raises an important question for today: what does responsible creation actually look like? Because while printing in the 19th century relied heavily on manual labour and raw materials, modern printing has undergone a quiet but significant transformation. What was once an inherently resource-intensive process is now, in the case of sustainable printers, carefully optimised to reduce environmental impact.
Today, paper is one of the most widely recycled materials in Europe, with well-established systems ensuring it can be reused again and again. Responsibly-managed forests, usually certified through schemes like FSC, mean that paper production can operate as part of a renewable cycle, rather than a linear one with a beginning and an end.
Printing technology itself has continued to evolve, too. New technology and printing processes mean better efficiency, less waste, lower energy consumption, and a more considered use of materials. Inks have improved, operations have been streamlined, and innovations like Carbon Balanced Print now allow businesses to offset the unavoidable emissions associated with print production.
Perhaps most importantly, print is no longer just about output; it’s about intention. Unlike digital content, which requires energy every time it’s accessed, stored, or streamed, printed materials are produced once and can be used, shared, and revisited without additional energy demand. A well-designed printed piece holds real power. It might sit on a desk or coffee table, be passed between colleagues, or revisited weeks later, extending its lifespan far beyond the moment it was first created.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that print is impact-free, but it does mean that, when approached responsibly, it can form part of a more balanced and sustainable way of communicating. In many ways, this feels aligned with the perspective Emily Brontë so expertly and instinctively captured with her writing: not a rejection of human progress, but a call to live - and create - with greater awareness of the world around us.
Not All Stories Belong on a Screen. Share Yours With Sustainable Print Today.
Explore other B&B Press resources to learn more about how print continues to shape stories that are meant to be held, shared, and remembered. Or, if you’re curious about how print could work for your brand, get in touch with our team to talk sustainable printing options.
