One evening, Goodman Brown leaves his wife and ventures into the forest, drawn by a mysterious errand. As he journeys deeper into the woods, he encounters shadowy figures and unsettling revelations that shake his faith in the world around him. What he witnesses that night will haunt him forever, leaving him unable to look at his faith, his neighbors, or even himself in the same way again. Nathaniel Hawthorne [1804-1864] is counted among the great American writers. In addition to his psychological novels, with The Scarlet Letter being the most famous, he wrote a large number of short stories. Many of Hawthorne's tales are set in colonial New England, and he often drew inspiration from his own Puritan heritage.