Who else remembers crying their way through the scarlett letter. I was a little reluctant at first because reading it in my high school literature class was so painful. However, I was so happy that I gave this a chance! The way that we treated women who didn't "behave" is appalling.

I loved following Isobel and her synesthesia. I think her choice in becoming a seamstress was a great premise. I loved how strong Isobel was and how she was able to find her way. I would recommend this to anyone who had to read the scarlett letter growing up!

Rating: 4.5/5⭐️
Pub day: October 4, 2022

Hester is a vivid well-written historical fiction inspired by Hawthorne’s “The Scarlett Letter.” It shines a light on a tough and courageous female character and also describes the incredible networks of underground railroads—and how essential they were to freedom from the south.

This story is set in a time when one wrong step could have you vilified as a witch and it also does a deep dive into the Salem Witch Trials from a few centuries earlier. The author did a fantastic job of weaving facts into a compelling story that I didn’t want to put down.

This whole tale was transportive and magical, and even if you haven’t read The Scarlet Letter I think you’d enjoy this. And don’t miss the author’s note—it was wonderful and I highly recommended finishing the book with it!

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

I would love to see this turned into a series or movie!

This was a very readable and entertaining historical fiction book. I really liked the premise, especially as I enjoyed The Scarlet Letter back in high school. The story moved at a great pace and the writing was enjoyable.

The reason I didn't rate the book higher is because I didn't feel like the author addressed race very well. She compared the experience of immigrants to formerly enslaved people in a way that equated their experiences, which is very inaccurate and harmful. Immigrants were not discriminated against to the same degree as Black and Indigenous Peoples in the US, but the book might make the reader think otherwise.

This was an interesting read. It’s the story of Isobel, the woman who inspired the character Hester and the story “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

It’s the 1800’s and Isobel leaves Scotland with her husband, Edward, to live in Salem in the New World. Edward is an apothecary who has fallen in debt and addicted to opium. Isobel is a talented needleworker who has synesthesia, a condition in which letters and words and sounds are perceived through color. A gift that is viewed as witchcraft in these times.

Once in Salem, Edward immediately joins a ship to serve as a medic, leaving Isobel alone and poor. Isobel must use her talent as a means to make money. While Edward is away, she starts to get closer to Nathaniel Hawthorne.

It’s a unique tale about immigrants, class, poverty and slavery. Sprinkled in are excerpts of the Salem witch trials. Isobel is an amazing character who goes through a lot of strife but ultimately her persistence and creativity prevail. This is a time where women do not have rights but she took the initiative to make money and did what she had to do to survive. It’s also a story of passion and romance. Overall the plot is captivating and the writing is beautiful, I definitely recommend.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Do you, like me, love historical novels about witches? Do you also love reading about the everyday things that make a woman’s life work? Do you love the idea that there is magic/power in sewing and herb craft? And do you love the idea of such a woman living in Salem, Mass., in the early nineteenth century?

Well, there’s an excellent book out there, just for you! It’s called “Hester: A Novel,” by Laurie Lico Albanese, and you should read it. Go buy it right now.

Our heroine, Hester, begins life in Scotland, but sails to the US with her husband Edward, ending up in Salem. And oh, Salem, you are still a hot mess more than 100 years after the witch trials. Not surprisingly, they still hate and fear anything that could possibly be witchcraft. They also have a lot of ill will, period. But our Hester is descended from a long line of witches, and, well, she has interesting traits that make her stitching unique and fabulous.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the best way to sum up the big storyline is that Hester and her fabulous talents end up being an inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.” Yes, she definitely knows “Nat” Hawthorne in this book.

This book covers a lot of territory, including the Underground Railroad, but Albanese keeps every single ball in the air. Her writing style remains lively and highly readable, no matter what the subject in the book. I’m going to start reading her other books as soon as I’m done with this review.

“Hester” is absolutely one of the best books of the year. Like I said, buy it!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy of this fabulous book to review!

this started out very strong and engaging as we follow her moving to a new place and meeting Hathorne, trying to make it as a single woman once she finds out her husband is presumed dead. the story is good and well done, but i personally felt it became a bit preachy in its feminism

Hester is a wonderfully crafted, imaginative story about who the real character, Hester Prynne could have been in author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlett Letter. With most of Hawthorne’s novels, historians have always been able to trace the backstory to his college years or childhood, etc. But no one has been able to figure out who Hester Prynne was to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Or where the idea for the story came from.

Laurie Lico Albanese’s take on the mystery is not only riveting, but masterfully played out.

Isobel Gambel is a young talented seamstress in the 1800’s who lives in Scotland. Trained by her now dead mother, she is a skillful, imaginative sewer just as the women in her family have been for decades. Some had even been accused of being witches.

When it’s time, she marries a doctor, Edward because she believes he is kind and she feels a sense of security with him. But unbeknownst to Isobel, Edward has a terrible addiction to opioids. When Isobel discovers there is no money and Edward becomes the talk of the town, they decide to sail by ship to Salem in hopes to start a new life. It is there as she is stepping off the ship that she glimpses a handsome man she finds out is Nathaniel Hawthorne.

While Isobel begins to establish herself as a talented seamstress in Salem, Edward decides to take a job as a medic on a ship leaving her by herself with barely any money in a town which she is not totally comfortable. As time passes, she begins to get close to Nathaniel who has admired her work and has requested she make something for him. Not sure of Edward’s whereabouts, they begin an affair. And Isobel is beside herself when she realizes she is pregnant, and Edward has been gone too long for the town’s people to think it is his. She hides the pregnancy and keeps the information from Nathaniel.

When she finally does tell Nathaniel, she cannot believe what she hears. And then Edward returns. Isobel is an adulterer and fears for her and her baby’s safety. But there are friends who she can rely on. Staying in Salem would be a death sentence. What can Isobel possibly do?

Hester tackles more than just a story of adultery. It tells of secrets which had been kept in Salem during that time period as well as how much a young woman cast aside can endure by being tortured and embarrassed in a gossipy town. It also shows her strength in understanding what must be done.

Although we may never know Hawthorne’s inspiration for The Scarlett Letter, this account is both captivating and bewitching!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #Hester #LaurieLicoAlbanese for the advanced copy.

MV Rating: 7/10

- Hester is a Scottish girl who marries young, and has many secrets. She experiences synesthesia, which for her ancestors was equal to witchcraft, and channels her energy into beautiful sewing.
- After her new husband loses everything due to opioid addiction, they relocate to the US where he immediately gets a job as a ship medic and leaves Hester to defend herself. While she manages her new life, she meets Nat Hawthorne and things. get. Intense.
- I don't know when I expected from this book, I thought it'd be a spooky one based on the cover & setting in Salem, but it was SO MUCH more.
- It's rare that a book comes out so balanced for me - there's independent women, honest representations of America that are true to the time frame, romance, and just enough drama to keep it going I was super satisfied with the book.

If you're in the mood for a mesmerizing story that checks all the boxes, you'll love this one!

Wow. I was so excited just reading about this book! A fictional female character--descended from a Salem woman accused of witchcraft--who is the inspiration for Hester in Nathanial Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter?! This novel hit on some of my favorite tropes--books about books, social issues through history, and a complex female protagonist at the forefront. I was IN.

Isobel Gamble is a Scottish seamstress who emigrates with her apothecary husband to America. After a short time in Salem, her husband (an addict) sets off on a ship, leaving her alone and unable to afford rent. She uses her exceptional needlework talents to survive.

Isobel's life in Salem isn't easy. The town and its inhabitants are haunted by the sins of its past. Isobel is continually subjected to hate because she's an immigrant and a woman. She is appalled by the institution of slavery and how it still festers in Salem. Her saving graces are letting her creativity shine through her needlework and spending time with the intriguing Nathaniel "Nat" Hawthorne, a fledgling writer who is obsessed with being better than his descendent, who promoted burning women at the stake. Isobel and Nat's connection is passionate yet tenuous--she hates that he's a proponent of slavery and knows he's too concerned with appearances to truly give her the love she deserves.

I'm thrilled to say that this engrossing book exceeded my expectations. Laurie Lico Albanese has put such a great feminist spin on this already intriguing tale. Isobel isn't just a fascinating character--she becomes the focus of a bigger literary narrative: How an anti-immigrant/patriarchal worldview permeated "the new world," and harmed anyone who threatened its supremacy. The descriptions of Isobel's synesthesia (she "sees" in colors) are gorgeously written. Albanese has written a romantic, powerful, enchanting book. I highly recommend it!

This wonderful novel speculates on the inspiration behind Nathaniel Hawthorne’s THE SCARLET LETTER. Hester is portrayed as Isobel, a determined young woman who wants to keep her family’s past accusations of witchcraft in Scotland a secret as she arrives in the new world hoping for a better life. Unfortunately Salem isn’t the best place for her to land! The author brings Isobel to life on the page, sharing not only her dreams but also her fears, loneliness,and doubts. It is easy to imagine she is the Hester about whom Hawthorne writes.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC to read and review.

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese is about the story that inspired the Scarlet Letter. Isobel Gamble and her new husband, Edward, come to Salem to start a new life. Shortly after their arrival Edward leaves on a trade ship. Isobel is left alone to provide for herself. As a seamstress, she is talented and makes magical embroidery that capture a lot of attention. Isobel quickly spots Nathaniel Hathorne and begins a friendship.

Hester is a magical story of love, survival, strength and hope. I loved the setting of Salem, Massachusetts.


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese, publish date October 4th, 2022

I received a copy of this audiobook earlier in 2022, and waited to listen to it until the autumn. I am so glad for it, because the book has a lot of reference of Salem witch trials and has "Halloween" written all over it. It is an atmospheric historical fiction, reimagining Nathaniel Hawthorne and his inspirations to write Scarlet Letter.

Isobel is a young Scot seamstress who marries an apothecary in early 1800s. Together they sail from Scotland to America. Isobel has color synesthesia and sees letters in colors, but her mother forbids to associate letters with colors. I have never heard this condition, and it perked my interest. I can see how this can be considered "witchy" in colonial America. The story is slow to develop, depicting Isobel's background, and current situations which takes some time, maybe not unlike to stitch letters together. Eventually Isobel meets Hawthorne, along with other members of Salem community.

I have really enjoyed the story, and it isn't a typical love story. The last 30% of the book is suspenseful and I had difficulties putting down, and I enjoyed the book's ending as well.
Overall I would have given five stars if I didn't struggle to engage in the story at the beginning.
The book is perfect for October, especially if you have ever visited Salem, Massachusetts or interested in history of Salem.

On a sidenote, I also received audiobook copy and read/listened to this book in tandem. Audiobook narration is exceptional and I would highly recommend audio format as well.

An advanced copy of this Ebook was provided courtesy of St. Martin's Press and NetGalley. Thank you!
Opinions stated hereby is my own.

I found the story “Hester” captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, a retelling of Hester Prynne the heroine in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter. Set during the 1800’s, it follows the story of a young Isobel Gamble. A seamstress from a descended of ladies’ seamstresses who see words and hear voices as colors, with her namesake being proclaimed a witch. Isobel married an older pharmacist who ends up losing everything because of his addictions. They set sail to America for a new beginning. On the ship, Isobel saves the life of the captain who then protects her. Isobel’s husband Edward goes off to sea leaving Isobel alone to fend for herself. Isobel’s stories are stitched into the garments. The narration was done very well.

Thank you #NetGalley, #St.Martin’sPress, #MacmillanAudiio, #Hester, #LaurieLicoAlbbanese and #SaskiaMaarleveld for the advance copy for my honest review.

What would Hester Prune’s story be from her own perspective? That is what Albanese’s Hester strives to put together in this novel. Cruelty, hardships and women who are stronger together than apart are the base of the novel but the experiences and characters themselves make it all worthwhile. A well written and worthy explanation of a life Hester could have lived, I enjoyed this look into the past as I wove my own threads around The Scarlet Letter and its plausibility.

Real Rating: 3.75* of five, rounded up

A book about passion elicits passionate responses. Thus The Scarlet Letter from its date of publication to the present. What Author Albanese did was meld a fact of Hawthorne's life...all his novels save this one sprang from known biographical incidents..and said, "...except...? <I>Hmmm</i>" and ran with it.

Thus we have this novel, which I stress so loudly because I've seen a lot of responses to the book that take exception to the author's assumption that Hawthorne was always a writer working from his own biography. I fail to understand this. It's a novel, and novels are fiction. The way they get their lives is someone thinking, "hey, what if..." and running with it. "Oh it's unsourced in anything from the time" well now, our little firebug Hawthorne might've hidden many a secret forever in his purgings, mightn't he? What he didn't want us to know, we do not know. ...that sounds weird but I don't know how to fix it.

Anyway, considering the story on its own merits...I like it okay. I don't love it.

Too much, too much, I thought as Isobel synesthesia came to the fore, then as we whizzed back into the seventeenth century again.... It's just another thing to mark her out as weird, this strange sensory disorder. Her life was eventful and her loves bone-rattlingly deep wasn't enough? When I read novels I want to think about how the life unfolding before me is moving, not how it's making me move between emotional registers. That's when I begin to feel a bit like a footstool, moved here, plopped there, and all in service of someone else's visions and needs.

Yes yes, I know, that is what novelists do. But the ones whose work I treasure do it with less grunting and heaving.

Setting the novel in Salem, and with Hawthorne...well, the parallels to his probable state of guilt and discomfort over the history even then looked on as brutal and his treatment of Isobel aren't challenging to form are they. I wasn't particularly enamoured with the author's take on Hawthorne, finding him a dreary sort of navel-gazing git. I'm not all the way sure that he could've been as quivery as a blancmange and still written the work he did. I could, of course, be wrong. After all, I suspect that Melville's obvious tendresse for Hawthorne was not entirely unreciprocated and I am *loudly*assured* this is unthinkable.

Back to <I>Hester</i>. I wish it was less hectic. I would've enjoyed a more uncluttered interior for the novel to present itself to me; one colored less hectically and decorated less thoroughly with lovely bibelots and literary objet d'art. But the read as it was, distractingly stuffed into a space a bit too small for it, was a deeply interesting and quite soundly reasoned story. The passive little Hawthorne falling for the intensely alive Isobel? Yes, I see it. The quivering awakening of the young people to bodily pleasure? It is ever thus, and so always involving to me. The resolution of the matters that, quite inevitably, come from the aforementioned awakening? Fortuitous! And, as the epilogue-y thing at the end makes Ever. So. Clear, it all came good.

Please don't tie bows and smack 'em on the butts of my stories. I'd like some room to put my own thoughts into the story's likely continuation.

These are the things that kept me from warbling my fool lungs out about this read. Others will, I do not doubt, feel differently. I expect so, in fact, and hope I'll be seeing the author's gorgeous cover art in many a gift pile this Yule.

A Novel Like No Other

I have never forgotten reading The Scarlet Letter many years ago in high school. My English teacher was a timely instructor who imparted her students with new ideas. I was startled; Hester Prynne wore a scarlet A for adultery.

Fast forward, at least sixty years, we now are privileged to read Hester, meticulously written by a woman, Laurie Lico Albanese. This original story is told from the point of view of Isobel Gamble. As a young girl, Isobel’s beloved mother warned her of the danger of her gift. It is the gift of “the colors.” A form of synesthesia, Isobel and a long line of women before her, link letters on a page and words with certain colors and shades of colors. After her mother dies, she marries an apothecary, Edward Gamble, who could have been a good man if not for his own ambitions and addictions. He and Isobel leave Scotland and sail to America, arriving in Salem in 1829. Yes, that Salem, the place of the witch trials, generations prior. Edward does not treat his wife with respect, nor does he keep his promises. He has stolen her money for an ocean passage.

Enter Nat Hathorne, known to us as Nathanial Hawthorne. It is a dangerous, passionate relationship. It must be a secret, like many of Isobel’s skills. Albanese includes wonderful stories about Isobel and Nathaniel’s ancestors. She also portrays how some women, in small towns or cities, are more aware of the real stories and connections than the elite families who make the rules.

More authors, drawing on history, should be impressed with Albanese. The possibilities are endless. Recently, there have been more of this genre, for instance the brilliant, late Hilary Mantel in Wolf Hall series and The Magician by Colm Toibin. However, nothing held my interest or respect as Hester.

My gratitude to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this pre-published book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me an advanced copy of Hester in exchange for an honest review!

There were certain parts of Hester that I greatly enjoyed. I think Isobel was an interesting character and her life in Salem along with the Black community there that she befriended was fascinating. Her eventual romance with Nathaniel was also quite interesting with the dramatic tension that you knew it was going to end tragically due to the inspiration coming from the Scarlet Letter. And it was beautifully written.

However, I did also find the beginning of this book hard to get into and at times boring. The exposition was needed to set up her life and the society she was in, but I did not find myself absolutely intrigued until almost halfway through the book. I also did not enjoy the occasional fantasy element added in, found the synesthesia confusing at first, and thought most of the sections not in Hester's POV were extraneous.

I would recommend this book to people who were greatly into historical fiction or those who really enjoyed The Scarlet Letter as the themes are mirrored here, but I do not know if it is for everyone.

The 'could be' backstory on America's oldest tale of a single mother making it work under harsh scrutiny. Who might've inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's famous Hester Prynne? The world may never know, but I loved this conjecture.

Isobel Gamble is descended from the only convicted witch in Scotland to escape. This comes with abilities that have to stay secret, even after Isobel is forced to start a new life in Salem, Massachusetts. Her husband isn't sticking around to help, so she must learn to use her talents to keep food and shelter.
Isobel is a heroine of tenacity, love, and heartbreak. Albanese created a vivid life for the scarred people and town famous for its judgement of women.
If you thought Hester Prynne was a badass, you'll LOVE Isobel Gamble!

Hester's cover is stunning!

This story is wildly imaginative, yet filled with historical facts about Salem, Massachusetts years after the Witch trials. While I don't remember much about the Scarlett Letter, as I read it in school back in the 80's, Hester uses its heroine as the muse for the classic story.

Nathaniel Hawthornes storyline adds an element of intrigue to the tale of how his story came to life in print. This mysterious tale is all consuming - A is RED!

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the complimentary ARC to read and review.

"If I have learned anything these months in Salem it’s that history isn’t what’s written or told. History is hidden away in dark corners and shadows, just as Nat says."

Hester is an utterly spellbinding reimagining of the woman who inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write Hester Prynne and The Scarlet Letter . A talented young seamstress, Isobel’s creative abilities and unique gifts raise suspicion in a community that doesn’t understand what it is to be different.

"I loved the needle and thread; they let me put my visions into cloth in a way that no one questioned, in a way that brought me praise. They let me keep my secrets in plain sight, where I prayed they would hurt no one, least of all myself."

She is taught to hide, and even to fear, her differences in order to protect herself. She keeps her secrets well, so as not to be accused of witchcraft. But when she falls in love with Nathaniel, she wonders if it might finally be safe to reveal her true self. Will he see the magic woven within her as something beautiful to be cherished? Or will her secret unravel both of their lives?

"Can the colors be both a blessing and an affliction? Perhaps he’s right and the colors are like the two of us—accuser and accused, pain and desire come together across time and oceans to heal our wounds. Perhaps this is the secret that I’ve been trying to see all along, that together we are whole."

I absolutely loved this book. It was so imaginative, so well-researched, and so beautifully written. I couldn’t put it down and wanted it to continue on forever! One of my favorite reads so far this year. Highly recommend for fans of The Once and Future Witches or Magic Lessons .

A huge thank you to Laurie Lico Albanese, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!