How Many Gables? Seven.

 Note: this is simply my Goodreads review, but accessing such reviews through social media is no longer simple, so I'm reposting the review here. Also, I really like this related photo!

A famous house and several of its gables, framed in currants
From my Two Days in Salem folder on Flickr

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We started visiting Salem (north of Boston) pretty regularly when we moved to Bridgewater (south of Boston) in 1997. We drove or walked by the House of Seven Gables many times, always saying we should go there "some day" but not getting around to it until 2024, when we decided to spend part of our spring break in this fascinating city with important family ties (my wife being a direct descendent of Rebecca Nurse).

It was such a good house tour that I wanted to take the tour again immediately when we were finished -- so many twists and turns and more architectural and historic tidbits than I could keep in my brain from just one visit. And that was without having ever read the book.

We put the book on our list, and eventually it moved to the top. We thoroughly enjoyed the audio version -- laughing far more often than I expected to. It is a low-key gothic tale in which the horror is rather subtle and the humor quite clever. Having been in the house -- and knowing therefore what a "gable" actually is and how much the gables of the actual house have evolved led me to visualize the story more vividly than otherwise I could have.

One of our favorite photos of the house has it framed in currant bushes -- which were bearing fruit at the time of our visit. It was nice to hear them mentioned specifically almost any time the gardens are being described. Much is made throughout the book of a "cent shop" -- I am particularly interested in seeing if I am remembering that part of the tour correctly.

The book opens with a long discussion of sordid events said to have taken place on the property BEFORE the house was built -- a sordid tale of woe related to the aforementioned witch hysteria. When Hawthorne ends this back story by explaining that it sets the context for the real story of the house, we both exclaimed "opening snippet" because it reminded us of so many television shows in which a huge complicated story plays out before the opening credits.
I highly recommend both the book and the house tour. I'll be visiting again and rereading after such a visit!

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