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Laurie Lico Albanese’s Hester reimagines Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, The Scarlet Letter, from the point of view of a woman who might have inspired Hester Prynne. Isobel Gamble is still a teenager when she emigrates from Scotland to Salem, Massachusetts, with her much older husband, Edward. She comes from a long line of women with secret knowledge—including her ancestor, Isobel Gowdie, Queen of Witches—and has learned to hide her synesthesia, a condition that makes her see letters and sounds in color. Albanese describes this brilliantly, weaving it into the story in ways that feel both magical and grounded.
Told in a dual narrative between Isobel Gamble and Isobel Gowdie, the novel’s prose is elegant and its themes—female agency, reinvention, artistic erasure—are timely and resonant. Still, I expected the story to have more punch. The plot lingers in places, and some characters fade before their arcs fully develop. It’s more about feeling than momentum.
The historical setting is richly drawn, with texture from witch trials to the Underground Railroad. Albanese brings real emotion to Isobel’s journey as she builds a life in a world that marginalizes women, immigrants, and anyone who doesn’t fit the mold.
I hovered between three and four stars, but the originality, voice, and sensory writing tipped it upward. Hester is thoughtful, atmospheric historical fiction with a literary twist.
** Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a comp. Opinions are my own.