Have you ever started a book without really knowing what it's about? My friend, Leslie, picked up this book while traveling through Salem, Massachusetts which triggered for me the recollection of its creepiness. But I didn't really know what it was about and thought it was high time I read something by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne has popped up in a couple of biographies I've read recently: he was part of Louisa May Alcott's circle; and his time in Paris was mentioned by David McCullough.The story is definitely the creepy, gothic type but there is romance which isn't obvious until the end. I would like to reread again with the romance in mind since I was concentrating on the spookiness.
Here's a sample of Hawthorne's brilliant writing: "NEVER had the old house appeared so dismal to poor Hepzibah as when she departed on that wretched errand. There was a strange aspect in it. As she trode along the foot-worn passages, and opened one crazy door after another, and ascended the creaking staircase, she gazed wistfully and fearfully around. It would have been no marvel, to her excited mind, if, behind or beside her, there had been the rustle of dead people's garments, or pale visages awaiting her on the landing-place above."
Description of a brother and sister: "He had a winged nature; she was rather of the vegetable kind, and could hardly be kept long alive, if drawn up by the roots." Paints a picture, no? It's a classic for a reason.
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