(1804–64)
a US writer of novels and short stories. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts , and set his novels in New England during the time of the Puritans . The most famous are The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851) and his best-known collections of short stories are the two volumes of Twice-Told Tales (1837 and 1842). He lived in Europe for seven years and was US consul in Liverpool in 1853.