Hester

 

Hester

Laurie Lico Albanese

Publication date: October 4, 2022 by St. Martin's Press and Macmillian Audio

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: 5 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

Summary: A vivid reimagining of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, the tragic heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and a journey into the enduring legacy of New England's witchcraft trials.

Who is the real Hester Prynne?

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?

In this sensuous and hypnotizing tale, a young immigrant woman grapples with our country's complicated past, and learns that America's ideas of freedom and liberty often fall short of their promise. Interwoven with Isobel and Nathaniel's story is a vivid interrogation of who gets to be a "real" American in the first half of the 19th century, a depiction of the early days of the Underground Railroad in New England, and atmospheric interstitials that capture the long history of "unusual" women being accused of witchcraft. Meticulously researched yet evocatively imagined, Laurie Lico Albanese's Hester is 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.

My thoughts: 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 Nathaniel is raw and untethered. It does seem 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 Scarlet Letter.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.