Emily Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire in 1818. She was the second youngest of six children, two of whom, Charlotte and Anne, were also writers. She was educated for a time at the Clergy Daughters’ School but in 1825 she was educated at home by her father, her aunt, her elder sister Charlotte, and by tutors who visited from time to time.
At the age of 19 Emily became governess at Miss Patchett's Ladies Academy but returned home after a few months. Five years later Emily and Charlotte decided to open a school of their own. To this end the sisters went to Belgium to finish their education. On their return home they published, along with Anne, a book of poems under the pen names of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Emily’s novel Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 but tragedy soon followed. Her beloved brother, Branwell, died in September 1848 and Emily, heartbroken at the loss, died of tuberculosis less than three months later.
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