Booktowne & Brielle Library Welcome Laurie Lico Albanese, author of HESTER

610 South Street,Brielle NJ 08730

13 October, 2022

Description

ABOUT THE BOOK... Isobel Gamble set 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 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. In HESTER (St. Martin’s Press, $27.99, October 4, 2022) Laurie Lico Albanese conjures the heroine of The Scarlet Letter in an original tale of nineteenth-century Salem. When Isobel meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are 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 needle worker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward's safe return seems increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow close. Together, they are a muse and a 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 an 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 history of "unusual" women accused of witchcraft. Meticulously researched, 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. ABOUT THE AUTHOR... Laurie Lico Albanese’s books include Stolen Beauty, Blue Suburbia: Almost a Memoir, Lynelle by the Sea, and The Miracles of Prato, co-written with art historian Laura Morowitz. She lives in New Jersey. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK... “This page-turning and poignant novel beautifully imagines the untold life story of the woman who went down in history wearing a scarlet letter.” – Alice Elliot Dark “Dreamlike yet vivid prose…Bold complex and intricately detailed.” – Christina Baker Kline