Enjoyable historical fiction featuring a strong woman in Salem, MA. Isobel is the imagined inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, The Scarlet Letter.

A woman can’t survive easily without a man and Isobel misjudges a few who leave her in danger.

“ I’ve told him my secrets and shown him my passion, and he’s made a deep mark upon me. And still, he looks at me and sees only himself.”

Isabel’s talent of seeing colors and embroidery is used throughout the story, sometimes in a rather unbelievable way. If you are a historical fiction reader who enjoys a female heroine, this book should be a satisfying read.

Hester is based on telling the other side of the story of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. As far back as Isobel can remember, she sees people surrounded in colors depending on the mood or aura of that person. Her mother did not have this ability, but her grandmother did, who she is named after. Isobel is a master seamstress trained by her mother. She uses her skill to weave stories into her work. The people in Scotland were a bit worried about unusual behavior so Isobel's mother warns her not to let people know of her abilities to see colors around people. She is rather excited when Edward, her new husband, decides to go to America to find his fortune. Edward is an apothecary with dubious practices mostly resulting from his dependency upon opium and his need to settle up his debts. The voyage from Scotland to Salem, Massachusetts is not pleasant but Isobel uses her sewing skills to assist with the Captain's injury on his arm and befriending someone while her husband already is fighting his demons. Upon landing on solid ground once again in Salem, Isobal sees a mysterious man in a cape that intrigues her The man is Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story draws you in as although Isobel guards her secret, she learns that while many others also have their own secrets, she begins to feel more and more alone with her secret. This is a fascinating story woven with a bit of mystique and paranormal. Laurie Lico Albanese carefully researched the era of the book, because I felt like I was there experiencing what it was like to live during that time. The story weaves into the historical events of the time period seamlessly. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read the ARC of this fascinating book.

I have not read The Scarlet Letter in years, so I went back and read a summary of the book while reading this and while this is fiction, it gives me a new perspective on Nathaniel Hawthorne, who the history books say had a very happy marriage.

Isobel Gamble is a woman who has seen colors in sound and words since she was a young girl, but was told by her mother to hide it because she might be targeted as a witch otherwise. Today, we know she had synesthesia. Regardless, she suppresses her ability and guards her tongue. When she loses her mother, the colors disappear, and for a time, she thinks she e eventually marries an older man, an apothecary, and the two make their way to Salem, where she thinks they will have a new life. He sets her up in a cottage, robs her, and then sets sail with the captain of the ship, leaving her to fend for herself.

Nathaniel Hathorne comes from a privileged family that dates back to the Salem witch trials of the 1600s and seems to be at loose ends. All he wants to do is write, but the general sentiment in the town and in his family is that you're not a real man unless you're doing "real man's work".

This was an incredibly well-researched book that created a plausible muse for Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter but also explored many relevant social issues at that time, including the roles of men and women and double standards, class vs. status, prejudice against Irish or Scottish immigrants, slave ships, runaway slaves, freed slaves and slave catchers, the possible beginnings of the underground railroad, poppy addiction, and probably a few I'm missing. And of course, this story is for the women daring to show the slightest bit of independence being branded as witches, by men and women alike. Despite this long list, the book is very focused and Albanese does an amazing job pulling it together.

This story could have become bogged down in anger and the evil that people do to each other, but this book is full of kind folks as well, both men and women, as well as those who may not actively do evil, but turn a blind eye when evil is done. I was left with a smile on my face for the "real-life" Hester as well as for Pearl.

Albanese weaves in stories of the past in between the chapters, and while they were definitely relevant to the story, it broke up the rhythm of the story for me. These ended up becoming natural pausing points for me. I think if it had not been for these interludes, I would have sped through the book more quickly. That said, I have requested the audiobook and am curious if that will change the rhythm for me. I would not mind giving this a reread.

This is my first book by the author, but I have already requested her previous book, Stolen Beauty, based on how much I enjoyed this. If you're a fan of historical fiction, alternate histories, American history, and strong heroines surviving adversity, I can recommend this book highly.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Reimaginings are one of my favorite things. The Scarlet Letter will always be one of my most loved classics and this reimagining was fantastically done.

When I saw that the novel Hester was based on the heroine of Nathanial Hawthorne's classic novel The Scarlet Letter, I knew I had to read it. I've always been fascinated by Hawthorne as a writer and as a man and used to teach his works, including The Scarlet Letter, years ago in a summer seminar as it's one of my favorite books. I couldn't wait to read what Laurie Lico Albanese had to write as she told Hester's story and explored just exactly who Hester was. I loved how she answered that question!

The heroine of this novel is Isobel Gamble. She's a skilled needleworker, which is a skill she needs to care for herself. Soon after she and her opium-addicted husband Edward, an apothecary, move to Salem, MA in the 1800s, he departs on a ship in search of ingredients to make medicine, and she's left alone and penniless. Isobel is also hiding a secret, one that could get her accused of witchcraft just like her ancestor. She has synesthesia-- she can hear a word or letter and instantly sees a color for that letter, so she experiences one sense through another. It's a talent, a blessing, and a curse that she must either embrace or control in a time when being a so-called witch was dangerous.

Nathanial Hawthorne is a character in this book, which I found delightful! He and Isobel embark on a forbidden and dangerous affair since she's still very much married although her husband is out at sea, possibly lost. It's a romance that's both beautiful at times but ill-fated and doomed from the start.

I loved the writing--it's lyrical and descriptive, very emotive at times. The characters are excellent, especially the female ones. They're strong, resilient, independent, and bold, especially Isobel, and they show strength and determination in a time when women were treated less than by the men around them. It's also a magical book, not just the story, but there are elements of magical realism--just a touch, and it's just perfect for the story.

I did think the story was a bit slow at times, but that's my only complaint. Otherwise, I recommend you pick this one up if you're a fan of The Scarlet Letter, or even if you're not and are a historical fiction fan as this gives a wonderful history of Salem in the 1800s, racism at the time, the Underground Rairound, witchcraft, women's rights, and more! A perfect fall read!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

-review posted to Goodreads, Twitter, and Amazon on 10/29/22

The Scarlett Letter is one of my all-time favorite books. I read it for fun in high school. Looking back, that's probably why I enjoyed it so much - reading it for fun. Thus my excitement for this retelling of that incredible story.

Isobel is a young woman born with the ability to see words and voices in color. This gift makes her an incredible seamstress and designer who can create anything on fabric. It also puts her in danger in an era when women were often accused of witchery. As was common then, she is married off to an older man with the ability to care for her and to relieve her father from that financial burden. Her husband, though, develops an addiction and they are forced to flee for the new world. Isobel forms a friendship with the ship's captain that steadies her new life.

She meets Nathaniel Hawthorne, a wealthy young man who spends his days writing and daydreaming, in town one day and instantly feels an attraction. As their relationship grows so do her struggles to survive and find friends in this new place.

Readers of The Scarlett Letter can imagine how their relationship plays out. The placement of Hawthorne in the center of this story makes this book a literary masterpiece. It is evident that Lico Albanese did a lot of research to portray Hawthorne and the era as accurately as possible. This beautiful story will live with readers long after the book ends.

#netgalley #hester

Hester was a perfect October read. I loved Hester. Albanese’s writing was captivating and engaging. She immediately drew me into the story.

Isobel is a young, talented seamstress who sees people and words in colors. Her ancestress was tried as a witch in Scotland during the witch trials. Isobel’s mother fears that Isobel’s ability will be misunderstood and encourages her to ignore the colors. Isobel marries an apothecary who falls under the spell of opium, and the couple must leave Scotland and try their luck in Salem, Massachusetts. Isobel meets Nathaniel Hathorne, and they are immediately drawn to each other. Like Isobel, Nathaniel is haunted by his ancestors. An affair follows, and Isobel must decide whom she wants to be in this new world.

The story of Isobel is interspersed with flashbacks to her ancestor being tried for witchcraft and Nathaniel’s ancestor’s involvement with the Salem witch trials. Additionally, Isobel must grapple with current issues in 19th-century America, including racism, the Underground Railroad, women’s rights, and religiosity.

This novel is an imaginative story of Hawthorne’s inspiration for his character, Hester Prynne. I highly recommend it, and I look forward to future books by Albanese.

I have always had a love of early American literature and of the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne in particular. So, when I learned that Laurie Lico Albanese’s new historical fiction novel was an origin story of the character Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter, I could not wait to read it. The premise both excited and enticed me. What if Hester Prynne was based on a real person that Hawthorne had a relationship with and that she became his inspiration for both the character and the novel? What if Hester got to tell her own story? I was immediately intrigued.

This is the fascinating tale of Isobel Gamble. Her story begins in Scotland but soon takes her to Salem, Massachusetts where she sees new opportunities for her embroidery talents. A seamstress with a unique ability that allows her to see colors as words, she creates art with her needle and thread all the while keeping her gift a secret. It is in Salem that she meets Nathaniel Hawthorne, a man of great genius who is tortured by his guilt over the role his forbearers played in the witch trials of the 17th century. There is an immediate attraction between the two but Hawthorne is never able to think of her as his equal and continually views her as an outsider. Theirs is a romance that is doomed from the beginning.

Albanese does a wonderful job of weaving the dark history of Salem and Hawthorne’s own history into this tale of love, loss, resilience and magic. Isobel is a captivating character. In a world and time when a woman is taught to be dependent on a man and to expect little for herself, she has a shrewdness, strength, and boldness that allow her to dare to dream for more. But those very attributes can also be turned against her as Isobel soon discovers. The romance between Isabel and Hawthorne, clandestine and forbidden, is beautiful but inherently ill fated as the troubled Hawthorne keeps letting his inherited guilt over his ancestor’s misdeeds get in the way of his own happiness.

Albanese employs a wonderful and lyrical use of language that is reminiscent of the writing style of Alice Hoffman, yet also uniquely her own and with it she creates literary magic. And while the book draws its inspiration from The Scarlet Letter, it stands on it’s own, separate and independent of the Hawthorne classic. And what an entrancing piece of fiction it is. I loved this book. It has a beauty, luminescence and honesty that I had not anticipated and I was captivated throughout. I imagine I will think about this book frequently in the years to come and will remember it’s unique magic. It bewitched me.
Thank you to @Netgalley and @StMartinspress for this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader copy of this glorious book. A very exquisitely written story about a young woman,Isobel Gamble, raised in Scotland who has a true gift with her embroidery. The man she marries turns out to be a sincere cad and they are forced to leave home and travel to America where they settle in Salem, MA...a twist of fate as she's descended from a woman who was accused of and tried for being a witch. Her husband leaves once more on the ship they came on to find his fortune, while she meets and falls in love with Nathaniel Hathorne. The tale is one that imagines the inspiration for the story of The Scarlet Letter, but it is so much more. It's a story of very strong women and how they always find a way to prevail in the face of adversity. Absolutely loved it, highly recommend!

Another tired story of the imagined real story behind Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.

I don’t appreciate fictionalized stories about real people who are long gone and can’t tell their side of the story. Nor do I appreciate a “man bad/woman good” theme.

I don’t deny that women were mistreated in the past, I’m just weary of this tired theme which is so prevalent in current books. I’m over it.

* I received a digital copy for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

I was one of the weird kids that loved having to read The Scarlet Letter in school. I was super excited to be approved to read this and ended up so impressed that the chose this as my monthly book in one of my subscription boxes!

This is a wonderful retelling of a classic with beautiful writing. I love how it brings the story back alive through fresh eyes.

This is a version of where the inspiration for Hester Prynne came from. Hawthorne and Isobel Gamble meet in the New World. They are both trouble and have their own histories that influence how they behave and react to each other. Can a single woman find a life in this time, or will it destroy her?

Having never read The Scarlet Letter I was not at a disadvantage and still really enjoyed it. I did know the basic plot from Hawthorne's story which is enough. This story is a fictional take on the influencing person for Hester Prynn and she has an incredible character ARC.

😍Loved: The descriptive storytelling, the Salem setting, all of the history (which most of new for me!), the full circle moment at the end of the novel, the MC Isobel is beautifully written.

😀Liked: The very layered subplots, learning about 1800s Salem and society (Ps. When I'm Googling and on Wiki midway through a book - that's a win for me), the synesthesia was fascinating.

😐Lukewarm: This is a bit of a slow burn so at times I was wanting things to progress quicker. Overall, worth the wait though.

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If the infinite, hidden forms of women’s resilience and will could take the form of a book, this would be it. A protagonist gifted (or cursed) with a synesthetic sight and the myriad women she encounters finding solace in their own strength, in the beauty they create, and in each other.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
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Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for access to an e-ARC of this beautiful, spellbinding book.
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Hester breathes new life into Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter by shaping a woman named Isobel into the inspiration for the lasting image of that scarlet A and his eventual story. Every turn of phrase was a delight, and the language choices settle the reader *seamlessly* into the 1800’s era of the story (you’ll get that reference once you read it, I promise). I adored the stylistic choices in this novel, and the subtle ways the author wove important, unspoken moments in history into the undercurrent of the plot. I rooted for Isobel, even in her missteps, and I was completely captivated by the imagery and the way emotion transported each of the characters onto they never anticipated travelling. With elements of the Crucible and the Salem Witch Trials intertwined with the present struggles of the characters it follows, Hester is a wonderful, magical historical fiction and literary retelling that I would encourage anyone to read. Grab your sewing needle, some scarlet thread, and follow the spool to your nearest bookstore

I love historical fiction and was a fan of The Scarlet Letter which, of course, we had to read in school. Hester is inspired fiction from that story and I really enjoyed it.

This was hard to put down and I ended up finishing in one day. I loved the mix of the Salem Witch Trials and Hawthorne's family history. I also loved how this story wove the "truth" into the meaning behind The Scarlet Letter which Hawthorne wrote.

Very fun and engaging read and one fans of Historical Fiction should grab.

I sincerely appreciate St. Martin's Press for the review copy. While a review wasn't expected, I have offered my opinion and these are my own thoughts.

4.5 Intense Stars
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I found this to be something to ponder. We have a telling from another perspective of times that we have read through the Scarlet Letter.

It reflects those times but if you allow yourself to see how a husband's addiction and selfish behavior cause his wife to be left to fend for herself, you might see how it could be a story not so far from today.

Someone who has never read The Scarlet Letter may not be the target audience for Hester, but here I am!

Set in 1800s Salem, Isobel Gamble is a Scottish immigrant trying to escape a miserable marriage and make her mark as a seamstress in the "small" town. After finding herself pregnant from a dalliance she's faced with a choice that can have major ramifications on her future.

While I enjoyed this novel, it was slooooooowwwwwwww, and I think had I read The Scarlet Letter I might have followed along a bit better than I did. All in all, a decent read.

This book packs quite a punch by bringing together so many issues including social, moral and tradition. I’ve never read The Scarlet Letter but know the story and this was reminiscent of that tale. What brought this book to life for me was the MC’s condition of synesthesia which allows her to feel her emotions in colors. This was a beautifully written novel full of legend and imagery.

Isobel Gamble, a talented seamstress, leaves Scotland for America when her husband, Edward, a pharmacist, loses their home and possessions to a drug addiction developed after a leg injury. She has little to take with her besides her skill and a closely guarded secret—she experiences words and letters as colors which enhances her exquisite embroidery but which her mother fears might mark her as different, even endanger her, similar to the fate of Isobel Gowdie, an ancestor accused of witchcraft.

Immediately after arriving in Salem, Edward gains passage to the Caribbean as a ship’s doctor without leaving Isobel any funds. She establishes a garden and takes a menial job at a dress shop while planning to unveil her full sewing talents at an upcoming ball. As the weeks pass, Isobel believes that Edward won’t return to Salem, and she entertains her attraction to bookish, awkward aspiring writer Nathaniel Hathorne who is haunted by his own ancestors’ persecution of alleged witches. Although Hathorne returns her flirtation and supports her artistry, he also sees her as an outsider, not of his social class, not educated, not American. On the precipice of rejection, she begins to see the deep societal divisions and reckon with the lack of freedom in the supposed bastion of liberty.

Isobel, the imagined inspiration for Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne, is savvy, ambitious, independent, and slightly defiant, often looking at Isobel Gowdie as symbol of strength, and equal to the men in her life. Descriptions of her embroidery were beautiful, though I thought the use of synesthesia was heavy-handed. I loved the descriptions of Salem as a wealthy, international port city full of spices, fabric, dishes, and tea from around the world. The reach of southern slave owners was harrowing, as was the indifference of many of the citizens of the north, but at the same time, I had concerns about how the underground railroad was used.

The extent of Albanese’s research is evident, and she’s said that for all of Hawthorne’s books save THE SCARLET LETTER, the plot can be traced to an autobiographical event. HESTER, then, not only imagines the root of the classic book but gives its protagonist a voice and agency not present in the original.

I never found myself truly attached to this book. I was excited to receive the audiobook through NetGalley, but found the narrator to be difficult to understand. I imagine this is due to the accent. Because of this, I listened to the book slowly. The book itself was a bit confusing for me and wasn't at all what I expected. I found myself really interested in parts of story dealing with Hester and her needlework or moments when she sought to make a name for herself in her community though. It gave me slow, but spooky vibes leading into the October season.

I would recommend this book through reader's advisory, if the right opportunity presented itself. The book is ok, just not my particular cup of tea.