A woman in Puritan Boston is forced to wear a red letter A for adultery
What it is about
In seventeenth-century Boston, Hester Prynne is punished for having a child outside marriage and must wear a scarlet A on her dress. She refuses to name the father and raises her daughter Pearl on the edge of town. Meanwhile, two men in her past are drawn back into her life.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who like classic American novels and moral dilemmas.
What you will get
A short but dense classic that rewards slow reading. The language is old-fashioned, but Hester is a strong and memorable character.
Behind the book
Hawthorne published it in 1850, and the first printing sold out within days.
Source: Wikipedia
The Scarlet Letter Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Classics · Shame · Sin · Puritan society
Length
272 pages · ≈ 8 h
More about this book
Characters
Hester Prynne, her daughter Pearl, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth.
Setting
Puritan Boston in the 1640s.
What makes it different
A classic about shame, told with symbols and a strong heroine.
Feel
Somber, symbolic and intense.
The Pearl
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Wuthering Heights