The Scarlet Letter (AmazonClassics Edition)

The red letter A on her dress marks young mother Hester Prynne among her Puritan neighbors, who demand to know who fathered her child. Rumors swirl, but the shunned and shamed Hester keeps her secret—and his—for years, until a guilt-ridden confession reveals the truth, with unexpected consequences.

Set in seventeenth-century Massachusetts, Hawthorne’s masterwork was originally subtitled “a romance,” though its themes include the limits of law, the power of religion, and the nature of sin. Equal parts tragic love story and social commentary, The Scarlet Letter brings to life the undying human need to keep secrets.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Scarlet Letter, this edition of The Scarlet Letter (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was an American novelist and short-story writer known for his symbolic, psychological works The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. Hawthorne grew up in Salem, Massachusetts, a town with deep Puritan roots that are reflected in his writings. Hawthorne, considered a Dark Romantic, focused much of his fiction on the innate evil and sin of humanity.