Rating: 4
Historical British & Irish Literature
It's been a few months since I posted a book review. I've been so busy I haven't had too much time to read. I plan to remedy that in 2024. Hester was my book group pick for October.
It's not necessary to have read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne before reading this book, but it does help to understand what is going on. In The Scarlet Letter, a woman named Hester Prynne conceives a child and is therefore found out in adultery. As punishment, she must wear a scarlet "A" for adultery in public. She refuses to out her accomplice, so he suffers silently.
In Hester by Laurie Albanese, we get an imagined backstory and perspective of the adultress. Isobel Gamble arrives in Massachusetts with her husband on a ship from Scotland. He is an apothecary who is addicted to opium and takes off, leaving her penniless. As a skilled seamstress, she is able to make enough to live on. As time goes by, she meets a young, married writer named Nathaniel Hawthorne. He's having writer's block until she inspires him. I'll leave it at that so I don't spoil the whole plot.
I didn't give it 5 stars because I was a little annoyed with the way Nathaniel Hawthorne was portrayed in the book. Otherwise, it was very well done and worth a read.
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