The Scarlet Letter

This handsome gift edition presents Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic work, The Scarlet Letter, featuring a luxurious gold embossed cover design, gilded page edges and patterned endpapers.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's story of love and adultery caused a stir when it appeared in 1850 and remains a milestone in American fiction. When the elderly husband of Hester Prynne returns unexpectedly to their New England village to find his wife nursing an illegitimate baby and wearing a scarlet letter 'A' - for Adulteress - embroidered on her dress, he embarks on a vengeful hunt for the child's father. Hester refuses to name him because he holds a respected position in the Puritan community, and in desperation, the lovers make a secret plan to flee to Europe with their young daughter. The Scarlet Letter was an instant bestseller when it was first published in 1850 and remains so today.