I usually don’t read historical fiction but I simply fell in love with this novel. The story was mesmerizing, clever and heartbreaking. Isobel is probably one of my favorite characters of the year: I was captivated and inspired by her strength and determination. Stunning and beautiful, I highly recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley & publisher for this e arc of Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese and Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator).
This is a women's historical fiction audio novel, with a dash of magical realism. 5*.
Synopsis: "Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward to live in Salem. When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows––while she is an unusually gifted needle-worker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward's safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. Isobel grapples with our country's complicated past, and learns that America's ideas of freedom and liberty often fall short of their promise. ... atmospheric interstitials that capture the long history of "unusual" women being accused of witchcraft. ..a timeless tale of art, ambition, and desire that examines the roots of female creative power and the men who try to shut it down."
Things I liked:
• I loved the story & also the voice of the audio
• Loved the Salem witch aspect, fall vibes, etc.
• I connected with the MC, which always helps me to love a book
Things I disliked:
• Nothing really in this case. I loved this one.
I was glad to read this one. Especially glad I listened to the audio and read it in fall! I will read more of Laurie Lico Albanese.

This was a good, witchy comfort read. I enjoyed the storytelling and the way the people pulled together. It is not a book that is excellent in any way but it is enjoyable and cozy.

I did not finish this book, but for no other reason than it simply wasn't the right book at the right time. I found myself uninterested in the story and the characters despite the fact that it's well-written and a great concept. I may pick this back up in the future but for now, it just wasn't for me.

I don't know what I was ultimately expecting with Hester, but I really enjoyed it! I love how the storylines wove together over generations (see what I did there?) and how vibrant the imagery was, even when you felt the area was bleak, grey and ominous. What a treat this book was, and to read it during the spooky season made it that much more fun. What a wonderful book!

Hester is a retelling of the 1850's Nathaniel Hawthornes famous tale of Hester Prynne. It's a story I am familiar with having read it many, many years ago in high school. I wondered how Laurie Lico Albanese's version would measure up... and it does very well. I enjoyed the story from MacMillan Audio wonderfully narrated by Saskia Maarleveld.

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From the book blurb: Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced them to flee Edinburgh for a fresh start in the New World. But only days after they've arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic––leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country, forced to make her way by any means possible.

When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows––while she is an unusually gifted needleworker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward's safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which?
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Hester follows the ups and downs of Isobel’s life, her struggle to be accepted in her new home, and her fears that she herself could be regarded as a witch. I wondered at times if she might actually have supernatural powers. She is a talented embroiderer and descendant of a woman accused of witchcraft. Isobel Gamble experiences visions and feelings as vivid colors which give her forewarning of things to come. This richly textured story is also infused with sumptuous descriptions of fabrics and embroidery. I was fascinated with the stories of messages woven and hidden within clothing Isobel and others made.

Hester also contains an underground railroad sub-plot about enslaved people living in the North and those trying to capture and return them to their Southern “owners” to collect rewards. Those who enjoy historical fiction will appreciate the vivid portrait of class and race hierarchies from the early 19th century.

I found myself rooting for the women in Albanese's story. In a time where an apothocary can call himself a doctor and be accepted, women couldn't gain entry in places without a man's introductions. And yet, these women teach each other, learn from each other and try and leave the world and their families a little better than they were. Ultimately, Hester is a novel about the nature of love, about learning who is truly trustworthy, and about relying on oneself to find happiness.

Many thanks to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio and Laurie Lico Albanese for sharing a book that should be a new classic read in schools.

Not that long ago, my book club and I were discussing the favorite books that we were forced to read for school and I was surprised to hear my own answer of [The Scarlet Letter] over [Wuthering Heights]. Although, to be honest, I had actually read Bronte's novel before reading it a second time for school - so I think my answer was probably more accurate, since I doubt that I would have picked up Hawthorne's novel independent of my sophomore year American Literature class. Plus, that whole class was rather memorable and this and [The Crucible] definitely led to the most lively class discussions.

Albanese's novel, though named for Hawthorne's heroine, revolves around Isobel Gamble, the eventual inspiration for the character. The audio here is well-performed and I especially enjoyed the Scottish accent that makes up the bulk of the performance. Isobel's life unfolds from her happy and colorful childhood, to her bleak and grieving young adulthood which eventually leaves her practically penniless and alone in Salem, Massachusetts. There, Isobel meets and becomes the muse of Nathaniel Hawthorne, himself an aspiring writer. The shadows of Salem's past still lays a heavy pallor over its citizens.

Isobel takes up her needlework to survive - while keeping close her secret for her real cause for her artistic visions. More of the city's secrets come to light, making this an engaging listen. It feels well-researched and I think that this will certainly work as a good discussion starter for book clubs - or even classrooms who are looking for supplemental materials. I really enjoyed this one and I especially appreciated the length and breadth of the epilogue. Well-written and well-performed, I am eager to check out the author's previous novels!

I loved the narrator for this book! Her Scottish accent was rich and warm.
While the plot didn't move as quickly as I would have liked, this was a decent retelling of The Scarlett Letter, and I think that fans of Hawthorne will be pleased.

This was such an interesting audio, Normally not a genre I would have picked up but I really liked the story and the narration,

<b>In a Nutshell:</b> Supposedly a story that sheds light on the “real inspiration” behind Hester Prynne of ‘The Scarlet Letter’. Great potential, shoddy execution. Farfetched in its reach, too neat in its ending. This is an outlier review.

<b>Story Synopsis:</b>
<blockquote>1829. Isobel Gamble is a nineteen-year-old Scottish seamstress who has newly landed in “The New World” along with her older husband Edward. Edward, an apothecary who has gambled his way into trouble, seeks a fresh start and soon after their arrival, he joins a departing ship as a “doctor”, leaving Isobel behind alone to fend for herself. Penniless, Isobel decides to make use of her talent with embroidery to survive.
When she meets young Nathaniel Hawthorne, there is an instant connection. Hawthorne seems to be battling with the demons of his family’s past, and is a recluse, but he can’t resist Isobel. How will this ill-matched relationship work? If you have read ‘The Scarlet Letter’, you can take a guess and you wont be wrong.
<i>The story comes to us mostly in the first person perspective of Isobel.</i>


✔ The book starts off well and I was hooked until about one-fourth the way in.
❌ After this point, the story becomes stuck in a quagmire of repetition, with abrupt plot changes that come out of nowhere. The ending ties things too neatly and forcibly establishes the final connection with ‘The Scarlet Letter’. It was overdone.

✔ Isobel is portrayed as a strong and resourceful young woman who doesn’t resort to desperate crying when she discovers her husband has left her alone and penniless. She uses her skills in the best way she can and is actually proud of her talent rather than faking humility. She is shown to be a very practical person in her approach to her work.
❌ Contrarily, Isobel has neither judgement skills nor pragmatism in her personal life. She marries and falls in love for the silliest of reasons and continues to pine for Hawthorne even after it is clear how their relationship is going.

✔ Isobel’s character experiences synesthesia, whereby she associates letters and sounds with colours. Thus there is focus on her unusual synesthetic abilities and how it enriches as well as impairs her work. Through this ability, there is also an indirect reference to the fae world and how it may/may not guide Isobel.
❌ This focus gets repetitive after a while. Even after it is clearly established how synaesthesia works in Isobel’s life, we keep getting detailed descriptions of it. The magical fae elements remain just a potential that are ignored for most of the narrative.

✔ Isobel is shown not just as practical but also as a woman with an empathetic heart. She fights against the bias against her as an “outsider” <b><i>(Doubt #1: Evidently, being a Scottish in the US was almost as bad as being a Black slave. Can someone confirm if this was a fact? I couldn’t find anything to substantiate this claim.)</i></b>; she has “slave” friends and does her best to help them when she can and even treats them as equals; she doesn’t understand why people had slaves.
❌ In other words, Isobel is too “woke” for her time. Her portrayal seemed very unrealistic.
<b><i>(Doubt #2: Can someone also please help me understand: if Isobel is poor and viewed as an outsider, how is she invited to all these fancy gatherings with the elite?) </i></b>

✔ The book is written in dual timeline, with the other timeline going two hundred years back to Isobel’s ancestor, also named Isobel. This Isobel stood trial as a witch and her experiences form this timeline. Her story is intriguing and stresses on how barbaric the belief system of that age was.
❌ I have no idea why this timeline was necessary in this book. How were the stories of the two Isobels relevant to each other except that one was an ancestor of the other and both apparently had the same synesthetic abilities? There was absolutely no connection between the events of the 17th centry with those in the 19th century. It seemed like a way of extending the book to a respectable length of 300+ pages. The back and forth between the timelines also breaks the flow on the “contemporary” timeline of the 1829, making the narration very choppy.

✔ This is marketed as the story behind Hester Prynne. There are thus many nods to the classic, including a repeated mention of the scarlet A, and in the circumstances of Isobel’s life that mimic that of Hester Prynne to a great extent. Knowing the original classic isn’t necessary to get this story, but it will make you appreciate the links better.
❌ The way in which the story is written—Isobel’s first person that continues even after Hawthorne goes his separate way—makes the entire idea of Isobel’s being the “inspiration for Hester” implausible. Moreover, I did not appreciate the portrayal of author Nathaniel Hawthorne in this work. It's not like I'm a fan of Hawthorne but portraying his character in a negative way seemed a bit disrespectful. In realy life, he seems to be an interesting person with a strong opinion on morality and social constructs. In this book though, he is depicted as a weak-willed character who cannot escape his past and manipulates Isobel as per his need. I don’t mind real people being inserted in fiction but the portrayal must be true to their original personality.

✔ There is a wide range of “important” themes in the story: slavery, slave hunts, witch hunts both in Salem and in England, women empowerment, male domination, racial discrimination, subservience of wives in a marriage, adultery, pre-marital pregnancy, immigrant experiences, and so on.
❌ Wasn’t it just supposed to be about Hester Prynne? Why so many other, irrelevant topics?
<i>(On an aside: Weren’t Black people called the N word in that era? If the narration had to be faithful to the time, it had to use the slur, even if the word is inappropriate today. How and why are they being called ‘Blacks”?)</i>

✔ There are some memorable secondary characters though their role is quite minor in the overall story.
❌ The overall character development is very flat. You barely get to see any side of Isobel other than her feelings for Nathaniel and her talent with the needle. Nathaniel’s character changes direction as per the whim and fancy of the author. The connection between Hawthorne and Isobel seems shallow; you barely feel their emotions beyond a surface level.


✔ I love the cover. It incorporates the Scarlet A as well as Isobel’s embroidery skills beautifully.


The audiobook experience:
The audiobook, clocking at almost ten hours, was a good way of getting through this book because I just might have DNFed or skimmed through it otherwise. Narrator Saskia Maarleveld gets the pulse of the characters and reads them well. At the same time, there are plenty of flashbacks in the story. Though these are made clear by the mention of the year at the start, they are still tricky as the main character is of the same name in both the timelines (though one is in third person and the other in first person). If you are the kind of listener who gets confused easily, better opt to read this if you want to give it a go.

Basically, I liked the idea behind the novel but am not at all impressed with its execution. It reaches much beyond it ought to have attempted, vilifies an author without any justification, and tries too hard to create social awareness though the main plot didn’t need most of those subthemes.

This might work well for those who don’t mind OTT historical drama that spouts social commentary at regular intervals. The heroine having synesthesia is definitely a USP. If you pick this up, read it with your logic kept aside. I forgot to do so.

2 stars.

My thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC and NetGalley for the opportunity to read “Hester”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

Laurie Lico Albanese brings a breath of fresh air to the classic tale The Scarlet Letter. While The Scarlet Letter has powerful prose and is lush with symbolism it is overall a slow, puritanical story that can be difficult for the average reader to get through. In granting her main character Isobel with the condition of synesthesia Albanese infuses the pages with color, a direct contrast to the starkness associated with both Salem and Hawthorne.
Throughout the course of the story Isobel evolves and paves the way for herself to experience life on her terms. Her relationship with Nathanial is raw and untethered. It also seems a bit out of character for them both. Regardless, the resourcefulness of women in this tale cannot be overlooked as each of them had their own powers to rely on to survive.
A powerful story of love, redemption, courage, and grit, this book is a fantastic complement to The Scarlett Letter.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.

This is retelling/backstory of Scarlet Letter and Nathaniel Hawthorn. Isobel is a Scottish girl with talent for sewing and embroidery. She is married off and circumstances force the couple of flee to a new world. She has hopes of using her talent in new world where rules of old world don’t apply. Little did she know similar demons and rules await her on other side of the ocean.

I was not sure how the story is going to end or middle for that matter. The ending was worth the slow parts, long chapters, so if you pick up this book..hang on!!

One of those rare books I wish I read instead of listened too. I loved the narration by Saskia Maaraveld but it's the type of book I wanted to reference back as I read.

Overall despite not being able to go back and reread sections later in the book I found the book to be a very well written work of art. I was drawn into the times and felt like I wanted to pick up needlepoint or at least be able to see these amazing works of art that were being created.

I have never read The Scarlet Letter and would love to go on and read that now to see the comparison between the two stories. Honestly, as I go into books blind, I wasn't really aware of the premise and only recognized the connection when I realized Nathaniel Hawthorne's name in the book.

I would definitely recommend this one and would not hesitate to recommend the audio for the fabulous narration but I would encourage you to also have a physical or ebook as well as stated above. If you are going straight audiobook just make sure you are able to devote your full attention to take it all in.

I decided to step out of my normal read with this book. The Scarlet Letter is the only book I remember reading in high school and I really liked it. When I saw that Hester was based around the Scarlet Letter I knew I wanted to read it.

The story follows Isobel Gamble in the 1800s. She comes from a long line of talented Needleworkers. Fleeing from her husbands opiate addiction in Scotland they land in Salem MA in hopes of starting anew. Not long after finding a home her husband leaves again with a ship captain and Isobel is left in a new world with almost nothing but her talent. She strikes up a friendship with the mysterious Nathaniel Hawthorne that quickly turns to more. Living in a town recovering from a sorted past while also learning about townsfolk secrets like helping with the Underground Railroad , Isobel struggles to find her place in America.

I really liked this book, I’m so glad I strayed out of my comfort zone and gave this book a chance. Not only is the cover of this book absolutely beautiful the story within is as well. The struggles Isobel went through were heartbreaking at times but I loved how she fought to provide for herself even though it was looked down on at the time.

The narrator Saskia Maarleveld did a fantastic job, I really enjoyed listening to her and I feel that she was really an asset to the story.

Thank you to #netgalley and #macmillanaudio for the advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this story much more than the Scarlet Letter. I found it really interesting how the author integrated synesthesia into the character Isobel Gowdie and made it as a potential cause to accuse of witchcraft. I don't think I've read anything like this before where synesthesia was featured like this. Makes the story very unique in my opinion. I wasn't a huge fan of the narrator but I was still able to stick to the story and listen.

4.5 🌟

One of my favorite classic stories is 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 by Nathaniel Hawthorne, so I went into this one with high expectations and a bit of nervousness.

I’m happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised! I loved how Laurie Lico Albanese reimaged this story. It may help if you know that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ancestors were involved in the Salem Witch Trials. A fact Albanese brilliantly weaves into this tale.

Young Isobel Gamble, a needleworker with synesthesia, a special gift to see colors in words, arrives in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1829 from Scotland with her husband, Edward.

When Edward must go to sea, Isobel finds herself in the company of a young, troubled writer, Nat Hathorne. While Isobel struggles to hide her dark secrets and fit into this rigid society, Nat is haunted by his family’s past. They soon become enchanted with each other; she is his muse, but does he understand what he is playing with?

I loved that this centers around how Hawthorne found his muse for the character of the original Hester Prynne. Some of the original characters make an appearance; even the scarlet letter “A” pops up. This is a captivating blend of historical events from witchcraft and the underground railroad. 𝘝𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘺𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵-𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥!



Thank you @stmartinspress for this gifted copy and @macmillan.audio for the audiobook.

I both read and listened to Hester. I really enjoyed this story it especially going into the Halloween season. The book acts as a prequel to The Scarlet Letter, a book most of us have been instructed to read in high school.

Overall, I’d rate this book a 4/5 stars. The narrator was incredible, I could listen to the book all day with her narration. The story was very well detailed and the main character developed beautifully throughout. I thought the author was able to hit on many key themes for this time period and follow them through, including Salem’s witch trials, slavery, feminism, and even touch on addiction. There were no plot lines that seemed to be unfinished but all woven together in a perfect fit.

While I did enjoy it, there were some slow parts, mainly the middle third of the book. I also struggled to piece together the timeline and the back story to Salem and Scotland. It took about halfway through the book to understand the timeline and how it fit together.

One of my biggest gripes, which had me reading more than listening was that the chapters were not labeled in the audiobook. It was hard to keep track of where I was in the book from a whole, or even where in the timeline of the story. I’d highly recommend revising the audiobook to include chapter numbers and setting years for clarity.

Thank you so much to Net Galley for the free copy, I will be recommending this to my historical fiction readers!

Thoughts on the book:
This is the fictional story of Isobel - the woman who could have been the inspiration for the scarlet letter. This story highlights the struggles woman have endure, while men can simply walk away holding all the power.

Hester incorporates so much history into it. And it is evident that a ton of research was done to write this book. I never thought about how much work would have gone into dress making in the 1800s. This story also tells the story of how slavery persisted even when the northern states were considered “free”. Synesthesia (a condition where sounds and letters can take on colors or textures) was incorporated into the story with the potential to be an explanation for magic.

The ending felt very satisfying.

Thoughts on the audio:
There was one narrator for four different time periods. The accents would change, but it was sometimes hard to pick up on.
I really wanted to read the author’s note, but it wasn’t included on the audio.
I liked the book, but would recommend the physical copy over the audio.

I enjoyed this book! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator appeared to have an authentic Scottish accent, which I very much appreciated. She did a nice job of switching between roles and made everyone sound distinct. Regarding the story, it was a clever mixture of themes from The Scarlet Letter as well as the witch hysteria in both Salem and in Scotland. Themes in the book also include feminism, family inheritance, women’s agency, classism, racism, and what people do to fit in. I really liked the main character and, even though I was mad at her for her choices a couple of times, I understood why she made those choices. I enjoyed the setting and the supporting characters as well - especially her neighbors. Finally, this book made me appreciate even more how many more options there are for women today than there were in the 1800s.

I really enjoyed this book about an immigrant to America who falls in love with Nathaniel Hawthorne. Set mainly in Salem, MA, in the 1800s it discussed many hardships of small town life for an immigrant. I really enjoyed how Hawthorne was a character in the book and the book played on the themes from “The Scarlett Letter”, such as the importance of reputation. It also flashes back to during the witch trials, where Hawthorne’s ancestor was leading the crusade and the female main character’s ancestor was a witch in Scotland. Today is pub day and this is the perfect fall read (or listen).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️