Set in Salem, Massachusetts in the mid-19th century, The House of the Seven Gables traces the history of a haunted mansion belonging to the Pyncheon family built on land seized from Matthew Maule in the 1600’s after Colonel Pyncheon accused and convicted Maule of witchcraft.  Maule laid a curse on the family at his execution, resulting first in the untimely death of the Colonel at the housewarming festivities.   Flash forward to the current inhabitants: the impoverished Hepzibah Pyncheon; her brother Clifford, falsely accused of murdering his uncle; pretty young Phoebe, a distant country cousin; and Holgrave, a mysterious lodger writing a history of the family.  Enter wealthy cousin Judge Jaffray Pyncheon, who threatens to commit the unstable Clifford unless he reveals the whereabouts of a long lost deed to land in Maine the family is thought to own.  Events follow a fate set by character, the evil are punished, and the righteous are rewarded and released from the curse.

The House of the Seven Gables was the follow up to Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and sold out four printings in its first year.  His treatment of generational guilt, retribution, and atonement has been an inspiration for many over the years, with particular resonance in the work of William Faulkner.    

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