The House of the Seven Gables

Description

A mysterious tale of crime, witchcraft and the supernatural. The House of the Seven Gables is a gloomy New England mansion, reeking of past sins and malevolent threats. The Pyncheon family that lives there has inherited the curse of centuries-old accusations of witchcraft, and is haunted by the ghosts of the sinful dead who still live within the terrifying shadows of the imposing house. A truly ingenious blend of the supernatural and the romantic, Hawthorne weaves a gothic tale that threatens to impale the family and the local townsfolk with its destructive power. FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and fantasy to science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic. Each book features a brand new biography and glossary of Literary, Gothic and Victorian terms.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's ability to weave worlds of plaintive beauty is somewhat at odds with his family background. His ancestry, which stems back to the Salem witch trials of 1692, contains a bloody, judgmental history used to dramatic effect in his novels and short stories. For Hawthorne, the sins of the father being passed on through subsequent generations was a haunting image, which he believed shadowed his own family.