The Scarlet Letter

Description

The classic American novel, rejacketed with a new foreword by Tom Perotta and introduction by Hawthorne scholar Robert Milder Set in the harsh Puritan community of 17th century Boston, this is a tale of an adulterous entanglement that results in an illegitimate birth. The mother of the child, Hester Prynne, is publicly disgraced and ostracized but emerges as the first true heroine of American fiction.

Author description

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was born in Salem, Massachusetts, where he wrote the bulk of his masterful tales of American colonial history. His career as a novelist began with The Scarlet Letter (1850) and also includes The house of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun. Tom Perotta is the author of two short story collections and six novels, including Election, Little Children, and The Abstinence Teacher. His most recent novel, The Leftovers, has been adapted for television by HBO. Robert Milder is a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of Reimagining Thoreau, Exiled Royalties: Melville and the Life We Imagine, and Hawthorne's Habitations: A Literary Life.