Emily Brontë was born at Thornton in Yorkshire. Her mother died in 1821 and the Brontë children were left mostly to themselves. Emily and her siblings were entirely dependent on one another and on books and study for enjoyment. Eventually the three Brontë sisters, Emily, Charlotte and Anne, collaborated on a joint publication - it only sold two copies. But this did not deter Emily who eventually went on to write Wuthering Heights (1847), which was published a year before her death from tuberculosis.