American author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The House of the Seven Gables: A Romance, a Gothic romance, starting in the middle of 1850. Ticknor and Fields of Boston released it in April 1851. A New England family and their ancestral home are the subjects of the book. Hawthorne tackles themes of guilt, retaliation, and atonement throughout the book and imbues the narrative with allusions to the paranormal and witchcraft. The Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, a gabled home in Salem, Massachusetts, owned by Hawthorne's cousin Susanna Ingersoll, as well as Hawthorne's relatives who had participated in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, served as inspiration for the setting of the book. The book was warmly appreciated when it was first published and afterward had a significant impact on H. P. Lovecraft's writing. The House of the Seven Gables has had numerous film and television adaptations. Although the narrative is set in the mid-19th century, there are flashbacks that take place in earlier decades that tell the story of the house's construction in the late 17th century. Free from the weight of the past, the protagonists leave the old house and begin a new life in the country.
