From Erika Robuck bestselling author of Hemingways Girl comes a brilliant new novel about a literary couple The unlikely marriage between Nathaniel Hawthorne the celebrated novelist and Sophia Peabody the invalid artist was a true union of passion and intellectBeset by crippling headaches from a young age and endowed with a talent for drawing Sophia is discouraged by her well-known New England family from pursuing a womans traditional roles But from their first meeting Nathaniel and Sophia begin an intense romantic relationship that despite many setbacks leads to their marriage Together they will cross continents raise children and experience all the beauty and tragedy of an exceptional partnership Sophias vivid journals and her masterful paintings kindle a fire in Nathaniel inspiring his writing But their childrens needs and the death of loved ones steal Sophias energy and time for her art fueling in her a perennial tug-of-war between fulfilling her domestic duties and pursuing her own desiresSpanning the years from the s to the Civil War and moving from Massachusetts to England Portugal and Italy The House of Hawthorne explores the tension within a famous marriage of two soulful strong-willed people each devoted to the other but also driven by a powerful need to explore the far reaches of their creative impulses It is the story of a forgotten woman in history who inspired one of the greatest writers of American literature.
