Hester
(eAudiobook)
Description
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. 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 husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his 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 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.
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Published Reviews
Booklist Review
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is required reading in many a high school. Albanese (Stolen Beauty, 2017) imagines an inspiration for the character of Hester Prynne. Thanks to her apothecary husband's opium addiction, Scotswoman Isobel Gamble must flee the old world for the new in the 1820s, landing in Salem, Massachusetts. Isobel's husband leaves to seek his fortune, leaving her to support herself with her beautiful needlework. Isobel harbors secrets, her ancestress was tried as a witch, and she is a synesthete, who perceives colors in what she hears. When she befriends Nat Hathorne, a struggling author haunted by his ancestor's role as judge in the witch trials, descendants of the accused and accuser come together, and Hathorne's creativity is sparked. Descriptions of how synesthetes perceive and the creativity of Isobel's needlework are engaging and aid in character development. With a subplot about Isobel's Black neighbors, who have secrets of their own, Albanese's novel will engage readers seeking racial themes, a resilient heroine, and a feminist origin story for one of America's always relevant nineteenth-century classics.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Albanese (Stolen Beauty) imagines in her standout historical the inspiration for The Scarlet Letter. Her proxy for Hester Prynne is Isobel Gamble, a skilled seamstress who has synesthesia and left her native Scotland for the U.S. in 1829 after her apothecary husband Edward's addiction to opium sent them to the poorhouse. Isobel's father paid their way out, and the couple took passage onboard a ship bound for America. Once stymied in her ability to express herself creatively, in Salem she uses her talents with needle and thread. She has a chance encounter with writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, recognizing in him a kindred spirit yearning for freedom, a spirit that moves Isobel to risk her life to protect people fleeing slavery. Later, her independent-mindedness leads to suspicions of adultery. Albanese describes Isobel's synesthesia brilliantly, such as in this memory of her cousins in a Scotland valley: "Their voices rise up in vibrant wisps of yellow and gold. The wind was sometimes fierce pink, and the sound of the waterfall on rocks glinted silver." Even those unfamiliar with the classic will be hooked by this account of a capable woman standing up to the sexist and racial prejudices of her time. (Oct.)
Reviews from GoodReads
Citations
Albanese, L. L., & Maarleveld, S. (2022). Hester. Unabridged. Macmillan Audio.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Albanese, Laurie Lico and Saskia, Maarleveld. 2022. Hester. Macmillan Audio.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Albanese, Laurie Lico and Saskia, Maarleveld, Hester. Macmillan Audio, 2022.
MLA Citation (style guide)Albanese, Laurie Lico, and Saskia Maarleveld. Hester. Unabridged. Macmillan Audio, 2022.
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Hoopla Extract Information
| hooplaId | 14844770 |
|---|---|
| title | Hester |
| language | |
| kind | AUDIOBOOK |
| series | |
| season | |
| publisher | |
| price | 3.99 |
| active | 1 |
| pa | |
| profanity | |
| children | |
| demo | |
| duration | |
| rating | |
| abridged | |
| fiction | |
| purchaseModel | INSTANT |
| dateLastUpdated | Jan 26, 2024 08:24:37 PM |
Record Information
| Last File Modification Time | Mar 08, 2025 11:27:11 PM |
|---|---|
| Last Grouped Work Modification Time | Mar 24, 2025 11:48:17 AM |
MARC Record
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| 040 | |a Midwest |e rda | ||
| 099 | |a eAudiobook hoopla | ||
| 100 | 1 | |a Albanese, Laurie Lico, |e author. | |
| 245 | 1 | 0 | |a Hester |h [electronic resource] / |c Laurie Lico Albanese. |
| 250 | |a Unabridged. | ||
| 264 | 1 | |a [United States] : |b Macmillan Audio, |c 2022. | |
| 264 | 2 | |b Made available through hoopla | |
| 300 | |a 1 online resource (1 audio file (9hr., 52 min.)) : |b digital. | ||
| 336 | |a spoken word |b spw |2 rdacontent | ||
| 337 | |a computer |b c |2 rdamedia | ||
| 338 | |a online resource |b cr |2 rdacarrier | ||
| 344 | |a digital |h digital recording |2 rda | ||
| 347 | |a data file |2 rda | ||
| 506 | |a Instant title available through hoopla. | ||
| 511 | 1 | |a Read by Saskia Maarleveld. | |
| 520 | |a 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. 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 husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his 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 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. | ||
| 538 | |a Mode of access: World Wide Web. | ||
| 650 | 0 | |a History |v Fiction. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a Women |v Fiction. | |
| 655 | 7 | |a Fiction. |2 lcgft | |
| 655 | 7 | |a Historical fiction. |2 lcgft | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Maarleveld, Saskia, |e reader. | |
| 710 | 2 | |a hoopla digital. | |
| 856 | 4 | 0 | |u https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/14844770?utm_source=MARC&Lid=hh4435 |z Instantly available on hoopla. |
| 856 | 4 | 2 | |z Cover image |u https://d2snwnmzyr8jue.cloudfront.net/mcm_9781250868794_180.jpeg |