First published 2016
The narrator steps into Doctor Grimshawe's world and finds himself caught between science and obsession. Grimshawe conducts experiments that push past rational boundaries into something darker. Two women complicate the narrator's path forward. A young lady offers hope but brings her own troubles. A maid draws him with different but equally strong attractions. Grimshawe's secretive research creates tension that affects everyone around him. The narrator struggles between logic and feeling as events spiral around the doctor's work. New England's shadows deepen every interaction. Love mixes dangerously with scientific pursuit. The four characters move toward a confrontation that cannot be avoided. Hawthorne leaves the story without a traditional ending, but the forces pulling these people together build toward something that must break.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, mystery, 19th-century, gothic, academic
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New England
Period: 19th-Century
146 pages · Paperback · CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Content warnings: mental-illness