In the mid 1800s, Pyncheon is still a revered namesake in Salem, with the gloomy Pyncheon mansion serving as a stark reminder of the family’s upper class history. However, the house—unique for its seven gables—has a dark and deadly past. Its current occupant, the older and unmarried Hepzibah Pyncheon, is all but destitute and unwilling to accept any assistance from her wealthy but unrelenting cousin, Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon. To support her brother Clifford, who is about to leave prison after serving thirty years for murder, Hepzibah opens a shop in a side room. Phoebe, a distant cousin from the country, moves into the mansion to help run the shop. Soon a romance blossoms between Phoebe and Holgrave, an attic lodger who is writing the Pyncheon family history.
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"Another great story by Hawthorne, full of Gothic elements and all types of social commentary. The only reason this one isn't getting a 5 star rating is that the ending was weak and appeared to negate the overall societal themes of the novel. " — Danielle (4 out of 5 stars)
"Another great story by Hawthorne, full of Gothic elements and all types of social commentary. The only reason this one isn't getting a 5 star rating is that the ending was weak and appeared to negate the overall societal themes of the novel. "
“A large and generous production, pervaded with that vague hum, that indefinable echo, of the whole multitudinous life of man, which is the real sign of a great work of fiction.”
" Solid 3 1/2 - 4 stars.Loads of description and not as haunting as I would have liked, but still really good.Extremely, extremely well written though a bit heavy handed.I feel smarter after reading it :) "
" Almost done with this - so good, and either I've forgotten or I've never read it before. "
" I should read this again, its been since high school and next week we are touring the house near Boston. In HS I thought it was boring, but I was pretty young at the time, maybe it aged better or maybe I did. "
" A classic, I am told. I read it in HS and reread because we went to the house on vacation last year. Rereading did not make it any more interesting that I remember from years. ago. "
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) is considered to be one of the greatest American authors of the nineteenth century. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and made his ambition to be a writer while still a teenager. He graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine, where the poet Longfellow was also a student, and spent several years traveling in New England and writing short stories before his best known novel, The Scarlet Letter, was published in 1850. His writing was not at first financially rewarding, and he worked as measurer and surveyor in the Boston and Salem Custom Houses. In 1853 he was sent to Liverpool as American consul and then lived in Italy before returning to the United States in 1860.
Susie Berneis is a professional voice-over artist. She has a BA in English and theater from the University of Michigan and more than twenty years of community theater experience. Her audiobook narrations include The Secret of Raven Point by Jennifer Vanderbes, which won an AudioFile Earphones Award in 2014.
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