Book completed

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Hester, by Laurie Lico Albanese. This was J's book club book, and he'd quite enjoyed it and thought I would as well. It was excellent. The author's idea was that since all of Hawthorne's other novels had been inspired by events in his life, why not The Scarlet Letter too? Our narrator is Isobel Gamble, a young woman who emigrates from Scotland with her apothecary husband to live in Salem, Massachusetts in 1829 - but then the husband leaves immediately to make his fortune on the ship's regular circuit, and she has to make her own life. She's a talented fabric artist (mostly embroidery) with synaesthesia, and young Nat Hathorne is fascinated. Meanwhile, the reader realizes immediately (at least I did) that although Isobel's never heard of such things, her neighbors are obviously active on the Underground Railroad. I definitely recommend this one.