I was impressed with how perfectly Hester ties into to The Scarlett Letter. This is one of those historical fiction options that will grab most readers. I honestly couldn't picture a better ending for Albamese's story.

Rating: 3.75

I’ve never read The Scarlet Letter even though I find the story intriguing. As soon as I heard about this story I knew I must give it a try. I switched between the audiobook and physical book and both platforms were well down. The narrator did a great job capturing the characters as well as the overall vibe of the story. I will be honest while I did end up enjoying this one it did take me some time to get into the story. I’m not sure if it was a me thing or the book. It also took me months to finish this one because even though like I said I was enjoying it there was nothing keeping me on the edge of my seat. I kept forgetting about it and pushing it aside for other books. Again not sure if it was just a me thing. Overall, I would still recommend this one because as a whole it was enjoyable.

Thank you so much for the gifted copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I recognize that this was a well-written book. I can see its good aspects, while also addressing the fact that it just wasn’t for me. I had this book halfway started on netgalley and just didn’t seem to want to pick it up again. I did like the ending, I wish the middle worked for me because I recognize its creativity and merit, but it just didn’t work for me.

This review has been added to Goodreads, Literal and Storygraph, as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon. This will be posted to my instagram (@busywithmybooks_) within the week.

Thank you for allowing me to listen to this story!!

I could not get into this one why I through them premise of the story was good and I love a good witchy historical fiction but this one had me so lost! I had no idea what was going on and found it hard to keep up with. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this for review

I read this book via audiobook and loved it. The narrator did an awesome job with the Scottish accent and it kept me fully immersed in the story. I would definitely recommend it. I felt the narrator lent to the authenticity of Isobel’s character.

As an English teacher, I could not resist checking out Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese. My first encounter with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter was as a high school English student. While my teacher hammered away at all of the symbolism in the book, I was really wondering about how Hester was surviving around all of these low down dogs calling themselves her man in public and private (or not). The preacher was the worst! But so was her husband lurking around town like a creep.

The Woman Who Inspired Hester
Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese tells the story of Isobel and her ancestors intermittently throughout the novel. Isobel’s ancestor of the same name was accused of being a witch in Scotland, but escaped the torture and ran away which is why Isobel exists today. Isobel is the woman that Albanese crafts the novel around as being the one who inspired the character of Hester in The Scarlett Letter.

You can quickly see the parallels between the two women. But Isobel is different, she can see colors everywhere and she is a keen businesswoman who figures out how to survive when her no-good husband leaves on a ship with her money. She is a beautiful, young redheaded Scottish woman who also has to be careful to abide by the rules of society and hide her gifts.

I am a big fan of Isobel because she is such a strong female protagonist. It’s easy to forget that she is only 19 because she deals with being abandoned by her husband and being left destitute like a pro. She knows her skills, she knows her own worth and she blinks back the tears quickly and moves onto to surviving and making a living for herself.

Overall Thoughts
I thought this was a very intriguing novel of historical fiction. There are so many layers of female empowerment, immigration, the effects of slavery on society and more that I might even do a re-read to try and capture more from it. Beautiful writing, great story, awesome characters!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance audio version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Hester imagines the story of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, the heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, and gives a vivid look back at the witch trials of Salem, as well as similar events in Scotland.

The protagonist, Isobel Gamble, is a brilliant seamstress, with many secrets and an unfortunate husband. Difficulties force them to leave Edinburgh for America, and an offer of work as a shift’s medic causes her husband, Edward, to leave Isobel alone in Salem to make her way. She then meets the young writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, who bears the weight of his own family’s involvement with the Salem witch trials.


This was a really special book, one that will probably be appreciated most by those who have read Hawthorne’s work. I read it some time ago, and listening to this book has made me want to read it again. It was truly a fascinating tale of a very different time. The narration was excellent as well.

Hester tells the story of the inspiration behind The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne by telling us the story of a young Scottish woman, Isobel, who moves from Scotland to Salem, MA, and meets Hawthorne.

There were times when I loved Isobel and felt for her, and there were times when I got so frustrated with her. But I ended up giving her a lot more grace when I was reminded later in the book that was barely out of her teens when the majority of this story takes place. Her love for Hawthorne even though he has some truly questionable opinions and treats Isobel poorly bothered me, but the reminder of her youth reminded me that we all make poor choices about love when we're young. My favorite character in the whole book was Captain Darling, who was a true darling, and I wish there'd been more time for him in the story.

All in all, this was a great fall read with more storylines than I expected and a book I would recommend to others. (3.5 stars rounded up to 4)

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I absolutely love the authentic feel of this story. The premise is that a particular woman in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life was his inspiration for Hester Prynne’s character in The Scarlet Letter - and for the eponymous Scarlet Letter. This is fictional - completely fictional - but it felt authentic and not like a fictional account. From the period and the Salem setting to the relationship between Hawthorne and Isabel and the resulting novel, imagining this to be historical fact was so easy.
 
I enjoyed the women’s empowerment angle that runs throughout the story - Isabel left to her own devices on and after her sea voyage from Scotland to Salem discovers her ability and power in stitching can allow her to forge a path for herself not an easy one but a way ahead. I love to see the strengths of women all through the ages, especially in periods and cultures where their power was not encouraged or respected.
 
The writing is beautiful and vivid, bewitching the reader into believing the story as truth rather than fiction. The narration fit the story perfectly !

Oh Hester! I loved this book. I think I liked this book more then The Scarlet Letter.

I mean, Isobel meeting Nathaniel Hawthorne and ... oh yeah!

The audiobook narrator was so fantastic! I couldn't believe how fast I got through this one.

Truly enjoyed from the first sentence to the last word.

I had difficulty following the storyline while listening to the audiobook version. I found that there were a lot of plot twists which made me have to go back and re-listen. I also found the dual timeline confusing and didn't quite understand what it added to the story.

Hester was a beautifully moody, atmospheric journey to the nineteenth century. Isobel Gamble and her husband arrive from Scotland to Salem, where she meet a young Nathaniel Hawthorne. This tale explores tradition, feminism, and mysticism as we see Isobel make a place for herself in her new home. I so thoroughly enjoying this audiobook, the narrator made the characters come to life, and further transported me to Isobel’s time.

From my blog: Always With a Book

This was one of the books we picked this month for our @bookfriendsbookclub selections and I’m so glad I did. Even though I have never read The Scarlet Letter, I knew as soon as I had heard about this book, I had to read it…and after enjoying it so much, you better believe I’ll be adding The Scarlet Letter to my tbr immediately!

I loved that reading I was totally able to enjoy this without having read TSL. Maybe I would have loved it even more had I read TSL, but clearly not reading it did not seem to hinder my enjoyment. The author was able to create such an enchanting, hypnotizing story that imagines the woman that could have been the muse for Nathanial Hawthorne. It is richly evocative and descriptive but not in such a way that you get bogged down in all the details. The story is so vivid that it is easy to visualize what is happening. I loved the history of the witchcraft trials and how that was woven into the story. And Isobel – she may be one of my new favorite characters! Her ability to see colors was just fascinating – but was it a gift or a curse?

There are many themes tackled within this book, making it a great bookclub pick – slavery, discrimination against outsiders, social class, women’s rights, addiction, etc. And let’s not forget the feminist take. Isobel is a strong woman who ends up supporting herself and striving for a better life. Again, I just loved her character!

I loved this book and cannot recommend it enough. I definitely plan on revisiting this one after I read The Scarlet Letter, which I hope to do soon. I haven’t read too many retellings/reimaginings of the classics, especially when I haven’t read the original yet but if they are anything like this one I will definitely be adding them all to my reading list.


Audio thoughts: As soon as I saw that Saskia Maarleveld was narrating this book, I immediately requested the audio…and I’m so glad I did. I was consumed by the audio – her narration was amazing! She had me mesmerized and I found myself unable to put the book down. She truly gave an outstanding performance.

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese was a book unlike any other that I have read. I really loved the concept of this one and enjoyed the audiobook which kept me intrigued by the storyline. Saskia Maarleveld did a fantastic job with the audiobook which made this rather long read feel like it flew by. I am not sure if the physical book would be as fast paced as there are many slow parts of the story. While I enjoyed this book it wasn't a love for me but overall a good read during the fall months.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes you finish a book and need time alone to sit with the story. “Hester,” was a book like this for me. This beautiful historical fiction novel tells the story of Isobel, a talented seamstress, who flees to Salem with her drug addicted husband for a new life. After her husband leaves her behind to go to sea, Isobel falls in love with Nathaniel. Nathaniel feels he is cursed as his relatives were responsible for many women wrongly being accused, and put to death, for being witches. As Isobel is a descendant of a woman accused of Witchery she wonders if this is fate?

This book takes on the themes of love, strength and pain. Are pain and love the same thing? The most beautiful part of the story to me if the women of Salem lifting one another up.

A 5 star read for me, I can’t recommend this book more. Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this beautiful story in exchange for an honest review. I’ll be thinking about this one for years.

I didn’t really know how to rate this book. Ultimately I think the themes and perspective were great! I loved how it focused on the women’s stories. The thread and embroidery was interesting, especially because of Isobel’s - I liked that it was almost witchy feeling, but not campy. The audiobook narrators voice was also phenomenal. Honestly, what took down the rating was how it dragged through a lot of the middle. But otherwise it was a unique book.

Unfortunately, despite the preface of the book and my best intentions, I could not finish it. I could go on and on, about how much I tried and failed to connect to the main character and how flat everything felt. But there is a different reason behind it. This break-up kinda situation would include the classic phrase: it's not you, it's me. And I'll take it upon my preferences.
Hester is the main character of Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel about a woman shamed by her community. Isabel, the main character in Hester, follows the path of her prototype from the literature. She meets the famous author, hides the fact she's married, and the rest is history.
I got to 30%, which is, in my opinion, quite a decent amount to decide whether this is for me or not. There was no flame. It was classic, tell not show, and I didn't feel like there was a romance whatsoever. It is only fair to mention that I am not a big fan of romantic tropes in books, but if the characters burn with lust, I might feel something inside. This time, I remain as dead as always.
Such a shame. But, as I said. There is a chance, this book meets me in the wrong place and time. It has nothing to do with being a good or bad book. If you enjoy historical fiction, I think, you should at least give it a shot if the story speaks to you. But if you're like me, and take fantasy any day over historical fiction, you might want to invest your time someplace else. Not that I will tell you what to do with your precocious time. (Tho I wish someone has informed me that in this case).

The use of art and color alongside the presence of synaesthesia to propel the plot and describe the magic and intuition of the main character was truly captivating. I will add that using another sense, hearing, as an audiobook, to absorb these details I think added to my personal experience. Taking place in the early 18oo's it handles the trades of its time, the everyday life concerns of the people and the overarching historical events like the Salem witch trials, those preceding it in Scotland, as well as the underground railroad with respect to context. The title conceit of using a fictionalized tale of the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne is clever without dominating and I believe one could easily enjoy this novel without having already read the Scarlet Letter-- and may even interest them in going back to that early work of American Literature.

This enchanting historical fiction story takes a look at Nathaniel Hawthorne and the woman that inspired his most famous work, The Scarlet Letter.

Isobel, a seamstress with a gift of seeing words in colors, narrates the book. She covers her disastrous marriage, her settlement in the new world, and her attraction and eventual love affair with Hawthorne. But like her husband, Hawthorne might not be the man Isobel thinks he is.

It was very interesting to read about the town of Salem, how the community treated those they deemed as outsiders, and how those outsiders looked out for one another. I enjoyed the story, but did feel it dragged at times. I do think it would be lovely adapted to the big screen though.

I received an ARC of this audiobook by the publisher via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

A standing ovation for Laurie Lico Albanese! Hester is a triumph and towards the end I couldn't put it down. Hester takes place in Salem, Massachusetts at the beginning of the 1800s. And it tells the story of a Scottish immigrant who became the inspiration for Hester Prynne in everyone's favorite high school assigned novel, The Scarlet Letter. (Please note I said that last part with a heavy dose of sarcasm.)

Albanese reviews some of the key themes present in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. The cruelty and hypocrisy of society are front and center. However, Albanese uses Hester to explore other themes such as the treatment of immigrants and people considered "other" in early American history. There's a subplot regarding the early days of the Underground Railroad that I wish got more screen-time in the novel. A lot of historical fiction that is set during this time period ignores the fact that slavery existed outside of the American South. Nevertheless, at its heart Hester is a feminist novel and examines female power in all of its forms, as well as how quickly people are willing to turn their backs on a woman if she displeases them and call her derogatory terms such as: witch, adulteress, or slut.

I don't have any complaints about the novel, and thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.

I give Hester 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it.

5 lustrous stars!

WHAT A COMPELLING VOICE!

Listening to this audiobook was like time traveling

Hester voice felt so authentic! And so did her life!

The Scarlet Letter is one of my favorite stories and this retelling exceeded all expectations.

Thanks to the compelling voice, the first person POV and the carefully crafted historical details I was totally immersed in Hester’s story and could not stop listening to this book! And when I wasn’t listening I was thinking about it and dying to get back to it!

Since this is a story with strong feminist themes I really enjoyed the extra attention to the womanhood aspects of Hesters’ life in such terrible times to be a woman.