Nathaniel Hawthorne

House of the Seven Gables

No. of episodes

22

Latest episode

2026-02-17

Where can you listen?

The sins of one generation reverberate through the next, becoming an inescapable burden. Nathaniel Hawthornes poignant moral from the Preface of The House of the Seven Gables sets the stage for a tale steeped in family curses and haunting legacies. The somber weight of the titular mansion looms over the Pyncheon family, whose ancestor exploited the chaos of the Salem witch trials to seize the land upon which their home stands. As a consequence, a wronged landowner, condemned as a witch, cursed the Pyncheons until they could atone for their ancestors misdeeds. Fast forward nearly two centuries, and the family is in turmoil. Hepzibah, an aging spinster, must open a shop in her ancestral home to combat her dire financial situation. Her brother Clifford, recently released from a three-decade prison sentence for murder, grapples with his fragile grip on sanity. Meanwhile, the menacing Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon looms large, threatening to confine Clifford to an asylum. Amidst the chaos, a long-lost deed that could restore the familys fortune remains elusive. A glimmer of hope appears with the arrival of cousin Phoebe, whose presence brightens the lives of Hepzibah and Clifford, even as she draws the mysterious lodger Holgrave into their orbit. As tensions rise and the Judge intensifies his demands, the curse of the Pyncheon family threatens to unleash its full fury. (Summary by Mark F. Smith)