Rappaccini's Daughter

In a secluded garden, filled with strange and beautiful plants, Beatrice Rappaccini lives under the watchful eye of her father, a scientist whose experiments blur the line between nature and poison. When a young student, Giovanni, falls in love with her, he discovers that beauty and danger are more closely entwined than he ever imagined. Is Beatrice a victim of her father’s work—or its most dangerous creation?
Rappaccini’s Daughter is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1844.

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.