I so enjoyed this prequel to the fictional Hester Prynne of the Scarlet Letter. The main character, Isobel, is a woman ahead of her time – determined to follow her desire for love, her passion for embroidery and her hope for the future.

If you are interested in the historic Salem witch trials in this country – and those persecuted in Europe – you will find this a fascinating read.

Isobel is told by many to “trust the needle,” a powerful metaphor strung throughout the book. To me, it signified trusting one’s creativity. But it also served as a metaphor for female empowerment – to trust one’s passion, one’s instinct, and one’s female strength. Isobel is a woman with grapheme-color synesthesia, which aids in her creative skills, but also puts her at risk during a time when fear of black magick abounded, and any perceived ‘differentness’ could be dangerous for a woman.

I enjoyed the two time periods presented – Isobel’s during 1829, and her grandmother’s during 1662 – and the parallels between both women’s stories of persecution. Even Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story and Isobel’s are intertwined through the historic lens of “accuser and accused.” Fable and story are impressively infused in this work as well.

The language is lovely but accessible, and I look forward to more books by this author. A few samples:
<i> Even Forbes’s wife is screaming, the bright words leaving her black maw of a mouth: “A witch, she’s a witch!”

… the three ships in the harbor huddle together like dark birds sleeping in the tides.

And yet silence doesn’t protect us from the past, as I well know. When a legacy haunts a family the echoes reverberate even if on one hears them.” </i>

You’ll enjoy an excellent author’s note at the end about the research involved and the spark of an idea that led to this book.
4.5 out of 5, rounded up.

Hester is perfect for fans of historical fiction! I really enjoyed this period drama that spans from the 1600’s to the 1800’s. It takes place in Salem and touches on the infamous witchcraft trials and the American slave trade. It’s about Isobel, the woman who inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s scarlet letter. I found it very interesting to learn about the unusual phenomenon known as synesthesia which enables you to see colours when hearing or touching something. A condition that some famous artists claim to have today.

Isobel, a seamstress, and her husband Edward, an apothecary, set sail for Salem after he has burned all of his bridges due to his opium addiction. Edward abandons her for a job on a ship serving as a medic. While he is away, Isobel is alone and must make her living using her talent for embroidery. Isobel meets the mysterious Nathaniel Hawthorne. Their connection is instant and undeniable. They both harbour dangerous secrets. Secrets that have consequences.

“Hester is a timeless tale of art, ambition and desire that examines the roots of female creative power and the men that try to shut it down.”

Hester releases on October 4th, 2022.

Well done @lauriealbanese 👏🏻

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

#bookadoration #hester #laurielicoalbanese #bookstagram #canadianbookstagram #smpinfluencers #stmartinspress

I absolutely loved this novel! It is rich with masterful prose, colorful, and artful descriptions that paint the most beautiful scenes and ideas. Hester invites a raw,human perspective to the Salem Witch Trials, life in Salem for European immigrants as well as Freed Slaves and Free Blacks during this era. Another focus is women's strength, resourcefulness, and ability to lift one another up when facing tribulations. This novel is a fictional backstory to Nathaniel Hawthorne's inspiration for his book, The Scarlet Letter. Well done! I was engrossed from beginning to end!!

Spellbinding! This imagining of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s inspiration for The Scarlet Letter is as richly colorful, enchanting and complex as the embroidery and other needlework creations by protagonist Isobel, who sees colors associated with letters and for whom sounds evoke colors, shapes and textures. Set primarily in Scotland and in Salem, Massachusetts in the early 1800s, with vignettes from earlier days in both locales, this is an utterly fascinating, enthralling and propulsive tale of creativity, strength and survival. Among its many themes are the ties that bind in a myriad of contexts - marriage, family, slavery, social class and even employment. Expertly woven into the story as well is the concept of intergenerational trauma - passing down of trauma experienced by one person to that person’s descendants. Hawthorne fans may not appreciate how he is portrayed, and the story might have been enriched by revealing a bit more about him and of his eventual wife, the venerable painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody Hawthorne. (Anyone wanting to know more about Sophia might enjoy The Peabody Sisters, a Pulitzer Prize finalist by Megan Marshall.). But this story stands on its own as superbly rendered historical fiction. Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a complimentary ARC. Opinions are my own.

This novel was very different than what I expected, it was almost a therapeutic redemption for my experience reading The Scarlet Letter in high school. The story of Isobel's journey that leads her to Salem, MA and crosses her path with Nathaniel Hawthorne mixed with a flow of magic not only provides enlightenment to the story of Hester Prynne but stands on its own strength. If you haven't read The Scarlet Letter then this novel is a story that will be worthy on its own merit, and if you have read it (perhaps as an assignment) you will likely look at it in a new light. A novel which has magic, the magic of language and secrets and love, but ultimately finds its strengths in humanity and love and friendship that find us and see us for who we are.

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, I LOVED this book, it was absolutely beautiful. Inspired by The Scarlet Letter, Hester basically delves into what would have happened if Nathanial Hawthorne had been Arthur Dimmesdale, told by the perspective of Hester Prynne herself. Isobel (who eventually inspires the character of Hester) is a Scottish needleworker and seamstress who immigrates to Salem, Massachusetts in the early 1800s with her opium-addicted husband. Once they arrive, he leaves her behind to join a sea voyage, and she must navigate life as a newcomer and a woman alone at a time when both are very problematic. She eventually meets "Nat" Hawthorne, and they are intrigued by each other; the romance goes from there to a somewhat predictable conclusion, but with some twists.

in addition to what is essentially a retelling of The Scarlet Letter, the story addresses Salem and Scotland's history of witchcraft trials, slavery and the Underground Railroad, and some pretty intense descriptions of advanced embroidery skills. The author clearly did some serious research for this book, and I loved all of the details and nuance. Having read The Scarlet Letter, I knew where the story was going, but I was still intrigued and surprised at the ending. I'm so pleased to have had the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book!

I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

Hester has such an interesting premise and an absolutely gorgeous cover that enticed me as soon as I saw it.. It takes the idea that if Nathaniel Hawthorne's other literary works were based on real events, then maybe The Scarlet Letter could be based on a true story also. Isobel Gamble comes from a long line of women with a secret. She flees to the New World with her husband but abruptly finds herself alone and penniless in a strange place. Isobel meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne and her life is changed forever.

This was my first experience with author Laurie Lico Albanese. I found the writing and imagery quite beautiful (even if there was a lot of purple prose) but the story started to drag in the middle and never really picked up for me. There was a lot of side plots that took away from the flow of the main story. I feel like the time period was 100 years off. The way Isobel described America as the "New World" and her neighbors as "puritan colonists" seemed incorrect for the time period. Isobel's synesthesia was a clever way to make people think she was a witch since it was a condition that was not known at the time but her fear of being found a witch would have been more realistic if the time period was closer to when there would have been an actual fear. Overall, this ended up not being for me but I can see why others would enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

I love discovering books and authors that nail historical novels by giving an old tale/event a fresh perspective. This is that book! Moody and atmospheric, this alternative view on the story behind the Scarlet Letter will leave any classic book lover or historical fiction fan wanting more! I can’t wait to see what else this author comes up with!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. Publication: October 4, 2022.

Once in a while, you find an historical novel that offers just a perfect combination of true historical events, original story, and detailed (even quirky) research. And what a treat it is! HESTER by Laurie Lico Albanese is just such a novel. Awarded five stars on Goodreads.

The “Hester” of the title refers to Hester Prynne, the heroine of Nathanial Hawthorne’s novel of Puritan New England, THE SCARLET LETTER. And as Albanese explains in her own Notes and Acknowledgements, the premise of this book is “What if Hester Prynne told her own story?” Because, after all, isn’t it plausible that Hawthorne drew from his own life experiences in writing a romance about doomed love?

The heroine of THIS book is Isobel, a Scottish immigrant, gifted embroiderer, and descendant of a woman accused of witchcraft. Isobel and her husband wind up, in the late 1820s, in Massachusetts, where they hope to establish a more prosperous life in the New World. That’s where Isobel really puts her formidable skills to the test.

Along the way, there is a sub-plot about enslaved people living in the North and about those trying to capture and return them to their Southern “owners” to collect rewards. I picked up a bit of knowledge about ships and their various uses at this time. And who knew I’d find the details of how women’s clothes were made fascinating? Also, the book touches on synesthesia, which I knew little about.

Isobel’s story is inventive, with lots of unexpected twists and turns. It’s a novel about the nature of love, about learning who is truly trustworthy, and about relying on oneself to find happiness. I think I read this over a period of 36 hours. It’s really just a wonderful and completely captivating read!

Hester is a very clever novel. We follow young Isobel Gamble as she and her husband flee a debtors prison in Scotland for New England. Isobel quickly realizes her apothecary husband’s weakness for self-medicating with alcohol and opium. Not long after landing, he is already wrapped up in another scheme and leaves her alone in a new country without a penny.

Isobel, coming from a long line of strong women, is not afraid of hard work. She uses her skill at needlework to keep herself fed, and dreams of opening her own dress shop. The longer her husband is away the easier it is to imagine a life without him, and this thinking gets her into trouble in the staunchly conservative town of Salem, that hasn’t let go of its Puritan roots. Lest she forget, the “real Americans” who have lived in the country for generations, remind Isobel that she isn’t one of them.

Isobel’s gift with the needle is amplified by her synesthesia, an illness that is still unknown in this time period, but is genetic. Her ability to hear colors makes her embroidery stand out. Mostly this is a good thing that will help her earn money, but remember the community’s memories are long, and the unknown is often blamed on witchcraft.

The similarities between Isobel’s life and Hester Prynne are obvious, but not in a bad way, and Isobel’s path definitely has it’s differences due to the time period. The author takes great care in her interpretation of A Scarlet Letter and Hester is a nice tribute.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and of course Laurie Lico Albanese for the advanced copy. Hester comes out on October 4th. All opinions are my own.

This retelling of the Scarlet Letter was interesting setting the tone of the country during this time period. Although I am not a fan of reading about witches and the abuse of women, this was an important part of history that needs to be told. I loved seeing Isabel’s character growth as she emerges from being beaten down by many other characters throughout the book. A little slow moving in parts but I am sure this will be a must read for many. #Hester #LaurieLicoAlbanese #NetGalley

The prose is lyrical and beautiful, and the story was enjoyable from beginning to end. I enjoy books that focus heavily on character growth and don't personally mind that at times the plot may have been slow. It was fun to watch Isobel grow and change. At it's heart, this novel is deeply feminist and that's always great to read. As a Massachusetts native, it's also always personally interesting to me to read books that center around our history here.

I love books like this and this one did not disappoint at all! I was hooked from beginning to end. The writing was beautiful and the story was great.

Hester is an enjoyable historical novel set in the 1800s. The story follows Isobel Gamble after she and her husband Edward immigrated from Scotland to Salem. The book describes the harsh treatment of women during that time in history. It is full of secrets, romance, and hints of magic and witches. I liked how the author included the Underground Railroad in the story. This book has inspired me to reread The Scarlet Letter. I recommend this book, especially to historical fiction fans. Thanks to the author, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Studying The Scarlet Letter in 11th grade was a formative experience for me as a literature scholar. While its rhetorical and literary language are masterful, its characters are less developed in service of the themes. To that end, I was intrigued by the premise of Hester, which offers a fuller exploration of the iconic character via a story which imagines a woman who served as Hawthorne's muse. However, upon reading Hester, I'm not sure that a melodramatic plot which imagines a one-to-one translation of Hawthorne-as-Dimmesdale and Isobel-as-Hester is a successful execution of the idea. The plot takes on too much: a woman living alone on the fringes of society when her husband is lost at sea, a forbidden love affair, an examination of the legacy of the Salem witch trials, a depiction of synesthesia and creativity in a world that is skeptical of both, and a sub-plot detailing the Underground Railroad in New England. The introduction of and transitions between these concepts are clunky and heavy-handed.

With this many threads in play, I had trouble tracking the timeline of this novel. Although Hester is set largely in the 1830s in Scotland and Salem, I felt that the characters would have made more sense in a setting about 100 years earlier. For example, Isobel repeatedly refers to America as "the New World," and refers to her new neighbors as "Puritan colonists," neither of which make much sense roughly 50 years after American independence. I also struggled with the novel's exploration of witchcraft, which also felt anachronistic. While I admire the ancestral links that both Isobel and Nat have to witch trials in Scotland and Salem, respectively, I was surprised that these historical events weighed on their lives more tangibly than a historical reckoning / generational trauma. Isobel fears that her synesthesia, which gives her exceptional skill as a tailor, will lead to her being accused of witchcraft, which feels anachronistic. Although Isobel's ancestor narrowly escaped execution as a witch, Isobel's fear of a similar fate would have made more sense if she was only a generation or two removed, instead of two centuries.

This extreme, literal focus towards witchcraft frequently took me out of the story. I was also disappointed that the majority of Isobel's interiority is dedicated to poetic language describing her synesthesia instead of character development. Unfortunately, this was not the imagined backstory that I hoped for the iconic Hester Prynne.

Set in Scotland in 1829, Hester begins with the story of 4-year-old Isobel Gowdie, whose mother teaches her how to make letters with a needle. Though the letters are black, Isobel sees colors associated with each letter, the result of a unique sensory phenomenon known at Synesthesia. Her mother warns her that she will be labeled crazy, a witch and then either hanged or burned. The author’s clear, descriptive writing succeeds in capturing life in the Salem, Massachusetts seaport with its cobblestone streets, active slave trade, and desperate struggle for survival.
The dual storyline takes place in both Scotland and in Salem. Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress who sets sail from Edinburgh, with her older husband Edward, an apothecary. By the time they land in the new world, Edward is addicted to poppy. Leaving young Isobel alone in Salem, he travels to purchase drugs for making his healing potions. In his absence, the young wife finds a market for her sewing. She also meets Nat, a man who stirs feelings that she never experienced with her husband. Set against a background of the classic The Scarlet Letter, Hester is an unforgettable story of forbidden love, of both its pleasure and its pain. Ms. Albanese has stitched all these themes together into an unforgettable lesson in survival.
Hester is an absolutely beautifully written novel, one many will call a masterpiece, based on the real Hester Prynne. Readers will applaud Hester, the first feminist hero. I am grateful to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for introducing me to the writing of Laurie Lico Albanese,.

Albanese starts with the premise that there must have been a real-life woman who inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write The Scarlet Letter, and Hester is the product of that premise. Isobel arrives in Salem from Scotland with her husband Edward, who quickly signs on sail with the boat they crossed on. Left on her own, with no money and no prospects, Hester begins to make friends and finds work sewing and embroidering fine clothing. When she becomes involved with Nathaniel Hathorne, her life changes for good.

This is a historical reimagining of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter. I was hooked immediately. Isobel is a sensitive dreamer who goes from innocent young wife to a wise, resourceful woman. Albanese’s evocative writing brought Salem to life and I felt its coldness. This story examines other relevant themes—racism and slavery, society’s rules for women, the immigrants’ struggle for acceptance—but it wasn’t heavy at all. I enjoyed every minute of reading it. I love when authors can breathe new life into old, familiar stories. Well done!

Let me start by saying that I think the cover is beautiful. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's get into the story.

Hester is a reimagining of The Scarlet Letter, which I think is a really interesting concept. The book follows Isobel Gamble, a young seamstress, as she gets married to a man much older than her and moves to the United States with the hopes of moving her life forward. Isobel also carries generations of secrets within her, like the fact that most of the women in her family are thought to be witches because they can see colors when others speak. I thought this was a really interesting take on Synesthesia and it goes really well with the fact that women in the 1800s were thought to be witches over the most minuscule things. Once Isobel moves to Salem, she meets Nathaniel Hawthorne (aka the actual author of The Scarlet Letter).

Like I said before, I think this is a really interesting concept and a story of determination but my heart wasn't in it. I wasn't overwhelmed or underwhelmed, the story was just there and I found myself skipping chapters just to see how it would end since the book felt unnecessarily long. I also thought the prose was overly flowery at times and it gave me a headache.

Overall, 3 stars for the cover and the interesting concept of the reimagining but this isn't a book I would personally pick up again.

The Scarlett Letter is a classic that everyone knows. I love reading retellings and thoroughly enjoyed this story. This was told between dual timelines and was such a beautifully written book. Thank you for my copy!