It's been over 20 years since I read The Scarlet Letter so while I don't remember the exact details of the book, I do remember the way it made me feel. When I saw that Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese was based on The Scarlet Letter and Nathaniel Hawthorne's motivations for writing the novel, I jumped on it.
Learning more about living in America in the 1800s is always fascinating, and frustrating, and I felt the book was well researched. There are a LOT of different subplots that are pulled into this story of Isobel Gamble and her early life in Salem. Towards the end of the book, I started to get frustrated with the flashback "chapters" because I didn't feel they gave us more than what Isobel had already told us herself. I felt they broke up my pace and feeling of being totally present with Isobel.

The book is beautifully written and the characters are well developed and clear in my mind. Like many novels, it does take a few chapters to get a feel for the time period and the plot but once I was at the 1/3 mark, I was hooked. I give the book 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This historical fiction novel set in the 1500’s Scotland and America is a wonderful, imagined fiction of a woman who inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write The Scarlet Letter.
Isobel, a Scottish descendant of a persecuted witch is somewhat of a naïve young women who has been blessed/cursed with the family’s ability to “see” colours. From a young age she is discouraged by her mother to let this ability be known lest she be accused of being a witch and in danger of suffering the same fate as her ancestor. When young Isobel meets Edward, an older pharmacist, she agrees to marry him thinking she would have a secure life and be able to focus on her passion, sewing.
When Edward’s opium addiction lands them in squalor, they sail to America all the while Isobel hoping for a fresh new start. They land in Salem, a town still reeling from the infamous witch trials years before, it is clear Isobel must remain mute regarding her “colours”. Isobel’s hopes are dashed when Edward is recruited to a ship to act as a doctor, leaving in the night with her hidden gold. She then secures a job as a seamstress with the hopes of opening her own shop in days to come. She is utterly miserable until she meets and falls in love with the guilt-ridden Nathaniel Hawthorne whose family is known to have persecuted “witches”. They begin a torrid affair which ends abruptly when Nathaniel hears the news that Edward is soon to return even though Isobel is now pregnant. The climax of the story comes with Edward’s violent return and Isobel is left to make choices to secure her future.
This novel covers a lot of controversial issues at the time such as witch hunting, slave-catching, and the lack of women’s rights. It was a great read that I believe reflected the time periods well. My only criticism would be the flashback paragraphs at the end of some of the chapters which I felt weren’t relevant or necessary to make this story great. Would definitely recommend the read to others.

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese tells the story of Isobel the inspiration for Hester in The Scarlet Letter. I enjoyed this story because it talks about after the Salem witch trials. Something one doesn’t hear about too much. I wasn’t very familiar with The Scarlet Letter or Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was a good story and I learned a lot. Obviously a lot of research went into this book. The character of Isobel was a very strong woman and life was very tough in this era. I will recommend this book. Thank you for allowing me to review this book.

Hester is a gorgeously told story about the young Isobel Gamble in the 1800s, moving from Scotland to the Americas, landing in Salem. Meticulously researched and sumptuously set, this story immediately pulls you in so much that every time I opened the story, I was transported to see and feel early Salem. Albanese manages to beautifully portray both the struggles of a young woman coming into her own person along with issues of sexism, racism, and classism, and ultimately gives us a story of belonging and place. I can't speak highly enough of this story. I was fully invested in Isobel's journey. The reader does not need to have read The Scarlet Letter or know Nathaniel Hawthorne, although it helps, because this story is fully separate and richly imagined.

A great example of historical fiction. Isobel has to make her way on her own through most of this story. She comes across many challenges, probably most important, her heritage. Coming to America was very difficult for most immigrants. I was not expecting the ending!.

A beautifully told novel that captures everything I loved from the early days of America married with a fresh take on old tales. I cannot WAIT for this book to come out and I've been recommending it to everyone who loves a variety of tales: Salem tales, Underground Railroad narratives, and more.

Hester, by Laurie Lico Albanese, is a new interpretation of the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is an imagining of where the inspiration for the book came from. It is very different, but throughout, the reader can feel foreshadowing of the Hawthorne story. It is well written and very engaging.

The story is perhaps a cautionary tale especially for young, beautiful women, who can fall prey to men of all types. It is a tale of the strength and the intelligence of women. It is a tale of how women, especially, can be treated when they are different, more intelligent, prettier than most.

This story includes much about a condition called synesthesia, where a person has a sensory experience that differs from that of most of us. Isobel, the main character, experiences sounds, especially words, as colors. Isobel is different, beautiful and talented. It is a story of love, and how to navigate a world that does not understand, a world that does not want to understand.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese. This is a retelling of one of my favorite classics The Scarlet Letter. This is a gem of a book. I loved every word and is one of the best retellings I have ever read.

Truly magnificent! An imagining of the story that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter", which itself is one of the best books ever written. The author has perfectly captured the language of pre-civil war America and created fully-realized characters who are complex and compelling. Beautifully illustrates the communities of women and those opposed to slavery, the greed of mankind, -- all on a personal, identifiable level. Albonese does not make this a simple good versus evil tale, but a compassionate tale of human beings with all their warts painted with a loving brush. Her descriptions of 1820s Salem, the work places and homes conjured up a vivid setting. And it was refreshing to not be able to anticipate every move in the plot Lots to think about and discuss, just as in "The Scarlet Letter" and should make this a great book club selection. Will recommend to all and look for other books from this author.

What a roller coaster. I had so many feelings through this whole book, happy and frustrating and everything in between. I was grasped by the writing style of the author and held by the monotone outlook of the main character, Isobel Gamble. Taught from an early age, Isobel had to hide her colors from the world as it is cruel to those who dream out side of the box. Set in the early 1800s, Salem is hunted by the witch trails where many innocent lives were abruptly ended. I liked reading a fictional piece of what it must have been like for women, especially foreign women, living in Salem after the trails. Isobel comes to America to escape her husbands bad habits and is rudely awaken to the hardships of the American dream. It really is a dream and the reality is much different and less welcoming. Left to fend for herself, she does what she enjoys to bring in money. Isobel uses her “colors” to make the most beautiful embroidery. While the world building was mostly okay, I believe the author focused more on the feeling of the colors and how it truly seems to be overwhelming at times for both us and the MC. Everyone had a color which reveals their intentions, even the wind did.
This room is a romantic tragedy. No smut or tension, totally PG, which is fine as the story line wasn’t romantic but a women navigating a man’s world. Which in the 1800s, it totally was a man’s world. The middle of the book had me mad and upset for Isobel’s choice in men while curious to know the secrets of the free black people in this book. Not much is revealed til the end because Isobel is not trusted till the end with the information which I appreciated. It gets boring when the author has people who just met reveal all their secrets like trust is so easy to hand out. Being given little pieces thought the book is true to the characters.
The ending answered any questions I had and I liked the full circle of the generation continuing on this story.
I did say “WTF” when ‘The Scarlet letter’ was brought up because it seems a little unfair that he was given such a great accomplishment but it was on theme so I digress.
Overall 8/10

When I heard "Hester" was a reimaging of the inspiration behind "The Scarlet Letter", I jumped at the chance to read it.

The novel is told in alternating time periods and perspectives; the main story takes place in the mid-19th century in Salem, Massachusetts when protagonist Isobel Gamble arrives from Scotland with her husband Edward and attempts to make a new life for herself. Her husband promptly leaves her in a journey to find new ingredients and formulations for medicine, so Isobel is forced to make her own means. Her talent as a seamstress is able to land her a number of opportunities, and as she gets to know the other residents of Salem, learns more about her new home. Albanese is able to create a robust community of individuals, and highlights the different social and racial tensions of the time - the presence of freed slaves in the North, the ever-present sexism, and even the prejudice that Isobel faces as a Scottish immigrant.

Juxtaposed to this storyline is a look back in time in the 1600s to Isobel's grandmother, as well as the ancestors of the present-day Salem residents. While brief, these snapshots in time help add additional context to the main story and better explain some of the present day relationships and tensions between individuals. I appreciated as well the hints of magic and mysticism included throughout the novel - while they aren't a main point, they do drive the story forward and add color to the events that happen.

Albanese's writing is beautifully crafted, and flows from passage to passage. I loved how she was able to create such vivid and complicated individuals, and tie together different themes and stories into one. Very much a recommended read for when "Hester" is published in October 2022!

Inventive, colorful, and engrossing, Hester is what I would categorize as speculative historical fiction. I say that because of the way it reimagines history and literature we think we know by giving it a pulse, by creating a flesh-and-blood personhood with a doomed but sweeping love affair at the center that becomes the real life inspiration for The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

In summary, this is a tale where readers are plopped directly into a sensuous, layered world of "what if."

What if Hawthorne had a muse? Could his tragic heroine, Hester Prynne, have been based on someone real? Someone he once knew? If the character was inspired by a woman he knew, then who was she? Where was she from? When and how did they meet? What kind of person would she turn out to be?

Perhaps she had a harrowing, fascinating story. Perhaps she was a married seamstress from Scotland named Isobel Gamble, an immigrant who was trying to make it in the New World in Salem, Massachusetts in the early 19th century. Perhaps she was haunted by the past but was trying to overcome it. And perhaps, in addition to being a gifted needleworker, she fell in love with a lanky dark-haired storyteller, warded against the harsh prejudices of the day, and guarded the dangerous secret of being able to see color in the sounds and letters other people spoke.

All said and done, this book is a vivid and lyrical reimagining of the "real" Hester Prynne that can't help but enchant its readers. It's a great selection for historical fiction fans, but especially for those who enjoy Nathaniel Hawthorne.

If you're anything like me, it will breathe new life into his work for you.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Hester is a beautifully written novel. It is a magical, sensuous, enchanting historical fiction. Nathanial Hawthorne and his imagined inspiration for Hester Prynne makes a fascinating tale. Having read The Scarlett Letter in High School I find this book very interesting. Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book before it's release. I predict it will be a bestseller!

Wow, I loved this "retelling" of The Scarlet Letter! While retellings are becoming ever more popular, it's rare that they're made over American classics. As a huge fan of Hawthorne, I was super excited to hear about this novel and dive back into the setting of Salem. I was not disappointed.

This was such a fun eARC to read! I loveddd The Scarlet Letter when I read it in high school, and it was so nice to have a retelling centered on Hester- the real Hester. I found this book compelling and magical and whimsical while still balancing the harsh realities and prejudices of life during this time. I almost kept forgetting how young Isobel really was because of everything she'd been through. I truly love how the ending was set up; it gave me the closure I was hoping for with the story and more. Overall a 3.5 stars, only because there was a slight drag in the middle when I was waiting for something to happen. But overall, WOW. So glad this was on NetGalley!

I was graciously given an eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of my favorite novels growing up. I've always been a history nerd, and the Salem Witch trials is a period of constant intrigue for me. Hester is a historical fiction novel based around The Scarlet Letter. It answers the question, "what if Hester Prynne told her own story?". It focuses on a young Scottish woman named Isobel Gamble who moves to Salem, MA with her new husband, and how her life is turned upside down by both her own secrets and those of the people in her life. There is a large emphasis on Isobel having a form of synesthesia - she can "see" colors and associates these colors with sound, which evokes her experiences with color, shape and texture. Because this phenomena wasn't widely known or researched until the early nineteenth century, Isobel must learn to keep her gifts to herself, or risk being considered a witch by the extremely superstitious culture in which she lives.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I found the author's prose to be very vivid and thought she did a great job building the world of Salem in the early 1800's. You could picture yourself in the town streets or out in the countryside. The way Isobel's gift was described was also extremely sensory and tangible. The story is told in first person POV which I normally don't care for. However, I got used to it by the middle of the book.

I found Isobel's character to be well fleshed out. I prefer strong female characters, but understand that historical fiction has to lend itself to the time period it's depicting. So while some of Isobel's choices were frustrating based on today's standards, it made sense given the time period she lived in and what women faced back then. It's a fairly short novel (around 336 pages), but I felt the side characters could've been realized a bit more. There were quite a few of them and some seemed to just pop into the story at random times, then we wouldn't see or hear from them for awhile. I never really felt connected to any of them and sometimes it felt as if they appeared and disappeared as a convenient plot device. I also felt as if the main conflict of the story was wrapped up rather quickly and neatly.

Overall it was an enjoyable read. The middle did drag a bit for me, but I flew through the last 75 pages. I think it slowed for me as I'm just not that into fashion and sewing. Isobel is great with the needle, so she finds herself needing to use that skill to not only make money to survive, but it also plays into The Scarlet Letter references throughout the book. I skimmed over most of the descriptions of fabrics, dress styles etc.

If you like The Scarlet Letter, if you like historical fiction set in the 1800's New England, and if you're looking for a shorter, more succinct lesson on the Salem Witch trials, give this book a shot. I'll definitely be checking out this author's other works.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

An interesting story imagining the young Nathanial Hawthorne and his relationship with a woman named Isobel Gamble, who would later serve as the source of inspiration for the Hester Pyrne character in The Scarlet Letter. Both characters are haunted by their ancestral pasts -- Hawthorne with his family's history during the Salem witch trials, and Isobel with her inherited synesthesia, which can be viewed as akin to witchcraft and must therefore be kept under wraps. The couple have a doomed affair and she falls pregnant. I enjoyed reading about Isobel and her development from a child to a scared young woman to a woman who makes her own way in the world.

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese is an impressive shift of time from her previous work, The Miracles of Prato. It is similar in its framing as a tale of the inspiration of a historical figure by a young lady with her own complicated and troubled life. Moving from art to writing, she imagines a Salem at a time when the famous trials are in the past but not out of the mind of those who live there, one of whom, Nathanial Hawthorne, has a painful connection to that past. Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress who has fled Scotland with her problematic husband hoping for a new start in a new world. An integral part of the tale is the art/craft of designing and making lady's clothing - itself almost a magical process. Highly recommended and richer if Hester Prynne is in your reading experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I am so excited to pair this book with The Scarlet Letter. The imagery with her kinesthesia is riveting, and the book is hauntingly beautiful throughout. While I am not normally a fan of historical fiction, this blew me out of the water. I loved the feminism interwoven into the story, and I think my students will thoroughly enjoy the allusions and character of Hawthorne. I'm looking forward to seeing other English teachers' reactions as well as the reactions of my students in the fall when this book comes out!

This mesmerizing tale is filled with mystery, the main theme of guarding one’s extraordinary ability in seamstress (is this a word?) at the time seen as witchcraft. The story explores a spellbinding subject of synesthesia, a unique sensory phenomenon of colors associated with letters. And Nathaniel Hawthorne is haunted by his ancestor’s past, who was a magistrate in the Salem witch trials of 1692, when he meets a young woman, who is an unusually gifted needleworker. It’s a fascinating thread that is woven into this story. Nathaniel Hawthorne craves solitude to commit himself to becoming a writer after his college years, but evidence also shows that he was more of a rule-breaker during his college years.

Scarlett Letter similarities? yes.

Received an ARC for my honest review from the publishing house.