Twice-Told Tales

Written at the Concord house where Emerson once lived, this collection holds Young Goodman Brown, The Birthmark, Rappaccini's Daughter and Earth's Holocaust. The book that made Melville call Hawthorne a genius.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

His third and last collection, with The Great Stone Face, Ethan Brand and My Kinsman, Major Molineux. It opens with a gentle tale about two children whose snow girl comes to life.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

A young Puritan leaves his wife Faith for one night to walk into the forest, where he finds his whole village at a witches' meeting. Hawthorne's most read story, short enough for a single sitting.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

One Sunday, Reverend Hooper climbs into the pulpit with a black veil over his face and never takes it off again. A short parable about secret sin that still unsettles readers.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

A brilliant scientist cannot stand the tiny red mark on his beautiful wife's cheek and sets out to remove it. A dark tale about the obsession with perfection.

Nathaniel Hawthorne