Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife: Vol. 1, Fifth Ed‪.‬

The records of American author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s early life are few, and the meagre information they contain tell us little about this important man of letters before he became famous. In this intimate family portrait, however, his son Julian Hawthorne picks up the writerly reigns to complete a thorough and loving biography of his father Nathaniel and his mother, Sophia Peabody Hawthorne. Julian’s portrait of his parents paints intimate accounts of life in the Hawthorne home that include such private glimpses as the ever-familiar scene of his father wrestling with his vivid thoughts in his darkened room, or pacing the quiet and solitary path between the pines while his mother Sophia went about her domestic duties with lightheartedness and cheer. For anyone interested in the subject of genius and matrimony or life in the Berkshires in the nineteenth-century, this well-written biography is a must read. Follow along as son Julian recalls the felicity and inward peace of an American author whose family life was founded on plain day to day living and high thinking.