Inspired by the Puritan past of his native New England, Nathaniel Hawthorne became a pivotal figure in the history of American literature, notably with his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter.

Having been found guilty of adultery, Hester Prynne is forced to wear an embroidered scarlet letter A as a punishment for her sin. While her vengeful husband embarks on a quest to discover the identity of her lover, she is left to face the consequences of her infidelity and find a place for herself and her illegitimate child in the hostile environment of seventeenth-century Puritan Boston.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's tense narrative astonished readers with its unparalleled psychological depth when it first appeared, and the novel now stands as one of America's literary landmarks.

One of the greatest allegories in all literature.

The books of Hawthorne... should be sold by the hundred thousand, and read by the million; and admired by everyone who is capable of admiration.

We look upon him as one of the few men of indisputable genius to whom our country has as yet given birth.

The finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country.