Our Old Home A Series of English Sketches is a collection of short stories relating Hawthorn's impressions during his travel in England. The book includes: Consular Experiences, Leamington Spa, About Warwick, Recollections of a Gifted Woman, Lichfield and Uttoxeter, Pilgrimage to Old Boston, Near Oxford, Some of the Haunts of Burns, A London Suburb, Up the Thames, Outside Glimpses of English Poverty, Civic Banquets. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist writing centers on New England, many featuring moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration and centering on the inherent evil and sin of humanity.