First published 2016
Colonel Pyncheon stands before the small cottage of Matthew Maule in seventeenth century Salem. The Puritan colonel wants this land for his grand mansion, but Maule is a mysterious figure whom townspeople whisper practices witchcraft. When accusations of sorcery lead to Maule's downfall, Pyncheon seizes the property and constructs his elaborate seven gabled house on the very spot where the cottage stood. The mansion rises in the heart of this New England town, but the colonel's triumph comes with a price. Maule's dark reputation clings to the land, and whispers follow the family who now occupies it. Various rituals of witchcraft had been performed on these grounds before, and the townspeople believe the mansion carries a curse from its tainted foundation. The house becomes both symbol and prison for the Pyncheon family, trapping them in a legacy born from greed and built on another man's ruin.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 19th-century, gothic
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, thought-provoking
Tropes: curse, generational-trauma, legacy
Setting: Salem, New England
Period: 17th Century
284 pages · Paperback · CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform