Hester

A vivid reimagining of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne,the tragic heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letterand 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 husbandEdward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opiumhis 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 SalemEdward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medicΓÇôΓÇôleaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange countryforced to make her way by any means possible. When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthornethe two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestorswho sent innocent women to the gallowsΓÇôΓÇôwhile she is an unusually gifted needleworkertroubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward’s safe return grows increasingly unlikelyNathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Togetherthey are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which? In this sensuous and hypnotizing talea young immigrant woman grapples with our country’s complicated pastand 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 \