The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is a work of historical fiction by Salem-born author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850.
Set in Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne who conceives a daughter through an affair and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Called by Hawthorne himself a "Romance" rather than a novel, the work explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.
The Scarlet Letter was one of the first mass-produced books in America. It was popular when first published and is considered a classic work today. It inspired numerous film, television, and stage adaptations. Critics have described it as a masterwork and novelist D. H. Lawrence called it a "perfect work of the American imagination".
