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, Hester, 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 Isobel 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 its 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 its unique magic. It bewitched me.
