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Periodical
PeriodicalLarge Print Book
Author Lico Albanese, Laurie, 1959- author.

Title Hester : a novel / Lauren Lico Albanese.

Publication Info. Waterville, Maine : Wheeler Publishing, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company, 2023.
©2022

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Cheshire Public Library - Adult Department Main Level  LARGE PRINT FICTION LICO ALBANESE    Check Shelf
 New Britain, Main Library - Large Print Materials  LP FIC LICO ALBANESE, L    Check Shelf
Edition Large print edition.
Description 525 pages (large print) ; 22 cm.
Summary "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. 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 Glasgow 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, Laurie Lico Albanese's 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. ("-- Provided by publisher.
Subject Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 -- Fiction.
Salem (Mass.) -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction.
Ability -- Fiction.
Needleworkers -- Fiction.
Women immigrants -- United States -- 19th century -- Fiction.
Scotland -- History -- 17th century -- Fiction.
Large type books.
Large type books. (OCoLC)fst00992678
ISBN 9798885786836 (hardcover)
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