Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese ~ Review

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, 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.

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.

Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction (2022)

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Retellings, Feminism

322 pages, Hardcover
First published October 4, 2022

Get Your Copy: Amazon | Goodreads | B&N

Read – This – Book!!! I was drawn into a world of historical fiction that I never wanted to leave! Have you ever wondered where famous authors get the ideas for their books? This story takes us on a fictional journey of what it could have looked like if Isobel Gamble was the inspiration behind Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter. Who was the real Hester Prynne, and what scandal gave way to such a harrowing tale?

I have, again, found myself traveling to a time when women were meant to be seen and not heard… yet the women in this book learned how to move between the shadows, speak up when it mattered, and make their own way in the world when people would rather they disappear altogether. It was intense and heartbreaking and empowering, and I loved every second of it!

We flash back in time to the witch hunt in Salem and slaves coming from Africa. We then return to the women of the 1800s, still struggling to run from the past of their ancestors, their own past, and the discrimination coming from all directions. One thing is for sure, pain bonds people, and numbers find strength together.

“America’s ideas of freedom and liberty often fall short of their promise.”

I’m so excited to share my newest novel, HESTER, with you. This is a prequel and a retelling of Hawthorne’s classic novel THE SCARLET LETTER, in which he links female passion and shame. My HESTER is Isobel Gamble, a young Scottish seamstress new to Salem in 1829, who falls in love with aspiring writer Nat Hawthorne and inspires his first novel.

I’m also the author of STOLEN BEAUTY, a novel about love, art, courage and war that illuminates the intimate lives of two remarkable Viennese women whose fates and awakenings are bound by Gustav Klimt and his golden portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.

Thanks for visiting and for reading.

WARNING: READING CAUSES EMPATHY. It’s a fact.