American author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The House of the Seven Gables: A Romance, a Gothic romance, starting in the middle of 1850. Ticknor and Fields of Boston released it in April 1851. A New England family and their ancestral home are the subjects of the book. Hawthorne tackles themes of guilt, retaliation, and atonement throughout the book and imbues the narrative with allusions to the paranormal and witchcraft. The Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, a gabled home in Salem, Massachusetts, owned by Hawthorne's cousin Susanna Ingersoll, as well as Hawthorne's relatives who had participated in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, served as inspiration for the setting of the book. The book was warmly appreciated when it was first published and afterward had a significant impact on H. P. Lovecraft's writing. The House of the Seven Gables has had numerous film and television adaptations. Although the narrative is set in the mid-19th century, there are flashbacks that take place in earlier decades that tell the story of the house's construction in the late 17th century. Free from the weight of the past, the protagonists leave the old house and begin a new life in the country.
American author Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804, to May 19, 1864) wrote both novels and short stories. His works typically touch on history, religion, and morality. His family had a lengthy history in Salem, Massachusetts, where he was born in 1804. Hawthorne enrolled at Bowdoin College in 1821, was chosen for membership in Phi Beta Kappa in 1824, and received his diploma in 1825. Fanshawe, his debut novel, was published in 1828; he later tried to suppress it because he believed it fell short of the caliber of his later works. In magazines, he produced a number of short stories, which he later compiled as Twice-Told Tales in 1837. He proposed to Sophia Peabody the next year. Before getting married to Peabody in 1842, he joined the transcendentalist community of Brook Farm and worked at the Boston Custom House. The pair first settled in Concord, Massachusetts' The Old Manse before relocating to Salem, the Berkshires, and finally The Wayside. Following the release of The Scarlet Letter in 1850, a number of other novels followed. Prior to their 1860 return to Concord, Hawthorne and his family traveled to Europe as part of a political appointment as a consul. He passed away on May 19, 1864.
