Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most important writers of 19th century America. His most famous character is Hester Prynne, a woman living in Puritan New England. Another famous object of Hawthorne's writing was Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States.

Besides The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne wrote The House of Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, The Marble Faun, and many others.

One of Hawthorne's most famous contemporaries, and also a close friend--at least for a time--, was Herman Melville. Another famous writer friend was Henry David Thoreau. The two lived in Concord at the same town for a short period.