For years considered her sister's inferior in literary circles, Emily Bronte's exposition of the complex and often unsympathetic characters and the insensitivity and cruelty they display toward one another eventually brought her to greater fame. Wuthering Heights, Emily's only novel, is considered by many to be the best of the work of the Bronte sisters. The unrequited childhood love between Heathcliff, the brooding protagonist of the novel, and Catherine, the daughter of the man who rescued him from early orphaned life, proves to be their undoing, embittering them both and driving Heathcliff to visit upon his own and adopted children the same cruelty that he suffered as a child. Critics expected a 'nicer' story, and were put off by the novels stark portrayals.