The White Old Maid (From "Twice Told Tales")

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) stands out as a towering figure in the landscape of American literature. An enigmatic chronicler of the human heart and its darker chambers, Hawthorne's literary prowess is deeply rooted in the probing of moral conflicts, sin, and the complexities of social mores. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, a place infamously tinged with its witch trial past, Hawthorne's ancestry...