Hawthornes tale about the brooding hold of the past over the present is acomplex one twisting and turning its way back through many generations of avenerable Ne... » 

Hawthornes tale about the brooding hold of the past over the present is acomplex one twisting and turning its way back through many generations of avenerable New England family one of whose members was accused of witchcraft in17th century Salem. More than 200 years later we meet the family in itsdecaying gabled mansion still haunted by the presence of dead ancestorsHepzibah an elderly gentlewoman fallen on bad times her ineffectual brotherClifford and young Phoebe a country maiden who cheerfully takes it uponherself to care for her two doddering relations. Theres also Holgrave a freespirited daguerreotypist who makes a surprising transformation intoconventional respectability at the storys end. School Library Journal Alarge and generous production pervaded with that vague hum that indefinableecho of the whole multitudinous life of man which is the real sign of a greatwork of fiction. Henry James Introduction by Basil Davenport. Also includesthe authors original preface. «