Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was an American novelist and short-story writer descended from a judge at the Salem witch trials — a connection he was ashamed enough of to add the w to the family name. He spent twelve years after college writing in a room in his mother's house, worked at the Boston and Salem custom houses, and lived for a while at the utopian community of Brook Farm, which he later put into a novel. Herman Melville, who became a neighbour and a friend, dedicated Moby-Dick to him. His books include The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables and Twice-Told Tales.