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by Laurie Lico Albanese ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2022

Nathaniel Hawthorne plays an unexpected role in this lively fictional look at the origins of his masterpiece.

This novel reimagines The Scarlet Letter from the point of view of a woman who might have inspired Hester Prynne.

Isobel Gamble is still a teenager when she emigrates from her native Scotland to Salem, Massachusetts, with her much older husband, Edward. Isobel comes from a long line of women with secret knowledge—her namesake is an ancestor known as Isobel Gowdie, Queen of Witches. But she’s been taught since childhood to mask such knowledge, including her synesthesia, a condition that lets her see colors associated with sounds and letters. She’s bent her energy to her skill at needlework, which has helped her support her family. With Edward, who’s an apothecary, she believed she’d made a good marriage—until they ended up in the poorhouse because of his drug use. Salem is their second chance, but almost as soon as they arrive, he turns around and goes back to sea as a medic, leaving her almost penniless. Isobel gets to work and finds support from some people in the community. She also gets to know a tall and handsome young fellow named Nat Hathorne, a man she saw the day she arrived in town. Isobel is a red-haired beauty, and Nat’s interest in her quickly turns into flirtation and more. The Salem witch trials are more than a century in the past, but Nat, an aspiring poet, is haunted by the role of his great-great-grandfather, John Hathorne, one of the most implacable judges in the trials. The trials haunt this book, too, woven through its story of Isobel, a woman who bears the bigotry of the town because she’s an immigrant and a woman whose husband may have deserted her. The author has incorporated plentiful research about the witch trials and, in Isobel’s present, the Underground Railroad. The rich details of life in Salem in the early 19th century, and especially about Isobel’s creative work as a seamstress and designer, enliven the tale.

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-2502-7855-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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by Laurie Lico Albanese

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New York Times Bestseller

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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BOOK TO SCREEN

by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SCIENCE FICTION

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by Max Brooks

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Hester : Book summary and reviews of Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

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by Laurie Lico Albanese

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Published Oct 2022 336 pages Genre: Historical Fiction Publication Information

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Book summary.

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.

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 Glasgow 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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"Albanese imagines in her standout historical the inspiration for The Scarlet Letter ...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." - Publishers Weekly "The author has incorporated plentiful research about the witch trials and, in Isobel's present, the Underground Railroad. The rich details of life in Salem in the early 19th century, and especially about Isobel's creative work as a seamstress and designer, enliven the tale. Nathaniel Hawthorne plays an unexpected role in this lively fictional look at the origins of his masterpiece." - Kirkus Reviews "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." - Booklist "In Hester , Albanese has masterminded a thoroughly immersive drama and a memorable, spirited heroine for the ages. Albanese's elegant writing captures the dynamic, sensual energy between Isobel and Nat in breathtaking detail. Isobel's appeal crosses cultural and generational borders to embody a timeless existential quest for the freedom to love and live as one pleases." - Shelf Awareness "Full of lush and colorful prose, this is a tale of one woman's determination and self-reliance amid the 'new world' of 19th-century Salem, which teems with festering secrets and alluring prospects. A message of resilience, Hester proves that a woman will do whatever she must to prosper, even when she is left with nothing but courage—and a few secrets of her own." – Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary "Albanese has written a masterpiece that should be required reading alongside Hawthorne's classic tale of adultery. Rich in detail and hauntingly lyrical, she examines the myriad ways that extraordinary women are judged harshly and forced to downplay their gifts in order to conform to society's demands. Enthralling, ambitious, and a total knock-out." – Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue "A rich tapestry of a novel. In dreamlike yet vivid prose, Albanese weaves a story about 19th century Salem, a place with a dark history where secrets still abound, and conjures the life of Hawthorne's muse, a woman whose skill and imagination are both the key to her survival and the source of others' mistrust and envy. Vivid, complex, and intricately detailed." – Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Author Information

Laurie lico albanese.

Laurie Lico Albanese has published fiction, poetry, journalism, travel writing, creative nonfiction, and memoir. Her 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. Laurie is married to a publishing executive and is the mother of two children.

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For anyone who has read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s THE SCARLET LETTER and come away with a passionate, protective love for Hester Prynne, author Laurie Lico Albanese has penned the perfect prequel/reimagining of this tragic heroine and the woman who may have served as Hawthorne’s inspiration for her.

Isobel Gamble is a talented seamstress when she meets her eventual husband, Edward, a widowed apothecary a decade her senior. The descendant of a woman tried in Scotland as a witch, Isobel has been taught that women’s secrets --- of magic, of their bodies and of their hearts --- have long legacies in her family history and that her work is just as much about helping other women guard their own secrets as it is about stitching a clean hem. But Isobel has a very particular kind of secret: she sees colors and words when she hears the voices of the people around her. “[M]y mother’s voice a sapphire stream flecked with emeralds, my father’s a soft caramel…. I didn’t know my colors were unusual and so I never thought to speak of them, just as I never remarked on the air,” Isobel recalls.

We would now label Isobel’s magical colors as synesthesia, the experience of multiple sensory responses when only one sense has been stimulated. But without the explanation of science, it is easy to see why Isobel’s mother would encourage her to hide this trait, especially given the family’s connection to a condemned witch. Like many women in her era and of her age, Isobel knows that a husband can protect her from being found out: his income can keep her at home, his name can carry her reputation, and maybe his love can bolster her and help her feel less unusual.

"Perfect for lovers of classics, devourers of historical fiction, and even fans of forgotten feminist histories, HESTER is a standout work from an immensely talented author."

Of course, this is not the case with Isobel. While Edward is initially kind and doting, his work leads him into dangerous obsessions with alchemy, mystical roots and herbs used by “savages” to cure any number of diseases. Even worse, he has access to poppy and opium when he suffers an injury to his leg. Before long, his own plundering of his shop leaves him and Isobel in the poor house. Isobel’s father buys their freedom, but it comes at a price: they will never again be welcome in their village, where everyone knows of Edward’s misdeeds. Instead they must set course for America and a new start. Ambitious and shrewd, Isobel sees an opportunity to become a patternmaker, dressmaker and seamstress, a woman who supports her household along with her husband. But Edward has other ideas.

When the Gambles arrive in Salem, Isobel is assaulted by the sights, smells and colors around her. Salem seems historic yet new, sophisticated yet fresh. Although she has heard of the witch trials, she feels certain that a land of such promise and possibility cannot still be weighed down by its past. Or can it? When Edward takes off for the sea in search of riches and medical miracles, Isobel is once again left penniless and alone…but this time she refuses to bend. While looking for work as a seamstress, she makes the acquaintance of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a handsome and brooding young man who, like her, seems to stand apart from the Salem crowd --- so new, yet so married to their traditions and routines.

As a newcomer to the country, Isobel is able to observe and draw conclusions about details to which others are often blind. She notes that while the country pretends to have washed their hands of the Salem witch trials, every memorial to the tragedy seems hell-bent on maintaining that there were once witches in the historic town. While slavery has already become illegal in the northern city, dressmakers still source their cotton from plantations known to abuse slaves; the same goes for bakers and their sugar. As a coastal city, Salem has the potential for so much growth and progression, yet it seems tied to its idiosyncrasies: shame and celebration, history and change, feminism and the fear of witchcraft.

Hawthorne, plagued by his guilt for his family’s role in the trials, seems like a kindred spirit, but he too is a man. As long as there have been women, there have been men trying to own them, crying “witchcraft!” “adulteress!” and “whore!” Just as she takes ownership of her womanhood, her magic and her future, Isobel is forced to reckon with the truth about who gets to belong in America, who is allowed to tell their stories, and what it means to be accused of the mere crime of being a woman in a male-dominated world.

Sensuous, gorgeously written and meticulously researched, HESTER is not only the ideal companion read to Hawthorne’s classic, it is an expertly crafted work of historical fiction in its own right. Albanese has perfectly absorbed the tone and spirit of her source material, but more than that, she has built her own stunning framework to cast THE SCARLET LETTER into the future and into the hands of a whole new generation of readers. But don’t let the connection scare you. Neither a textbook nor a reimagining of the original, it’s something entirely new.

With conscientious and diligent research into the witch trials, the slave trade, the work of a seamstress, and life in early 19th-century America, Albanese has created a rich, immersive window into life as a newly arrived American during one of the more tumultuous and change-driven periods of American history. There are sharp, searing takedowns of misogyny, racism and classism woven throughout, but the viewpoints and ideologies never feel anachronistic, a difficult balance to achieve for even the most experienced authors. Albanese has done her due diligence and far more, creating a work that not only honors its source but transcends it.

Perfect for lovers of classics, devourers of historical fiction, and even fans of forgotten feminist histories, HESTER is a standout work from an immensely talented author.

Reviewed by Rebecca Munro on October 14, 2022

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

• Publication Date: October 3, 2023
• Genres: Fiction , Historical Fiction , Women's Fiction
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• ISBN-10: 1250825164
• ISBN-13: 9781250825162

StarTribune

Review: 'hester,' by laurie lico albanese.

Laurie Lico Albanese's "Hester" opens as Isobel Gamble arrives in the port of Salem in the early 1820s, after leaving Scotland. Isobel has a gift for the colors she uses in embroidery and dressmaking, but she has hidden the true extent of her talent: a form of synesthesia that allows her to sense colors in spoken and written language that make her sewing an enchantment to others.

As a small child, her synesthesia glows. "I lived in a world of magic and color then — my mother's voice a sapphire stream flecked with emeralds, my father's a soft caramel. In summer I ran barefoot through the valleys with my cousins and kin and saw 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 glistened silver."

But that sense of the world is disrupted when, in mentioning to her mother that letters have colors, her mother berates and hits her. Women who have expressed those kinds of thoughts have been called "crazy" or "witch." Isobel's mother is afraid that such a fate would befall her, and so, Isobel learns to hide her own perceptions.

As "Hester" unspools in Albanese's vivid and emotionally rich novel, Isobel reveals the story of her female ancestor, another Isobel , who was caught up in one of the last gasps of the European witch panics. By the late 17 th century, the male intellectual obsession with women's bodies as the conduit for Satan's powers had morphed into other forms of misogyny throughout Europe. But Salem, Mass ., would see a final eruption in 1692 that led to the deaths of 25 villagers, 19 of whom were hanged.

Isobel creates a life for herself by embroidering haberdashery and clothing for Salem's elite. In Nat, she finds a kindred spirit, a man driven to write stories about the town's legacy in which ordinary people committed — and continue to commit — abominable acts.

Albanese has written a novel that brings together 17 th- century witch trials with the novel for which Hawthorne is most famous. In a culture in which the separation between mind and body is enforced through a strict moral code, acts of violence against others reinforce values assigned to gender, race and poverty, a way of projecting failings onto the bodies of others.

Isobel's synesthesia is a gift as a seamstress, but as Albanese ramps up the tension in a harrowing plot, it becomes evident that her belief in her gift has skewed her sense of others. A world built on visual difference offers us back only our distorted reflections. In order for Isobel to survive, she will have to learn to apprehend what lies beneath the cloth she stitches for others.

Lorraine Berry is a writer and book critic in Oregon.

By: Laurie Lico Albanese.

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 336 pages, $27.99.

Event: Literature Lovers' Night Out, 7 p.m., Oct. 26, Zephyr Theatre, Stillwater. Tickets $15 at valleybookseller.com .

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Book Review: Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

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?

This book absolutely bewitched me! I love a witchy tale, and I consumed this one. Or was it the other way around? These characters are lacking in morals, but their deeply flawed nature and the exciting but toxic world in which they live captured my heart and attention. In the end I absolutely loved Hester the character and Hester the book!  

I think the author did a fantastic job of creating a beautiful historical fiction inspired by The Scarlet Letter . It’s a brilliant book that I think deserves more appreciation! My copy has found a place in my home library.

Have you read The Scarlet Letter ?

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‘Hester’ imagines a backstory to Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’

Hester Prynne refused to be shamed for her actions in “The Scarlet Letter.” Was Hawthorne writing about someone he knew? 

• By Heller McAlpin Contributor

October 3, 2022

Ever wonder if a real woman might have inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne? On rereading “The Scarlet Letter” as an adult, novelist Laurie Lico Albanese was so taken with its heroine, “who defies powerful men and vengeful villagers by wearing the symbol of her shame like a badge of courage,” that she fabricated a backstory behind the classic. Her new novel is colorful, in more ways than one.

“Hester” is told from the point of a view of Isobel McAllister Gamble, a young Scottish woman stuck in an unfortunate marriage. Soon after she immigrates to America, Isobel falls hard for the handsome, haunted, aspiring writer Nat Hathorne (the “w” in his last name was added later). She announces boldly at the start of her tale: “The true story of how he found his scarlet letter – and then made it larger than life – begins when I was a child in Scotland and he was a fatherless boy writing poetry that yearned and mourned.” 

Set in 19th-century Glasgow, Scotland, and Salem, Massachusetts – with flashbacks to 17th-century witch hunts in both places – “Hester” is a chronicle of ill-fated passion and female persecution. The book explores the weight of family history as Isobel and Nat each grapple with an ancestor’s role in the witch trials, one accused, the other an unrepentant prosecutor.  Albanese’s consideration of inherited guilt also encompasses questions about culpability for forebears’ enrichment through slave trade and labor. (One of the novel’s surprising subplots involves efforts to outfox bounty hunters on the trail of enslaved people who had escaped. The hunters were permitted by law to pursue their human prey even in the supposedly free North.)   

With “Hester,” Albanese has tapped into a rich vein of historical fiction that reimagines famous novels from a female character’s point of view. “Hester” joins books like Jean Rhys’ “Wide Sargasso Sea” (1966), which imagines a backstory behind Rochester’s “mad” first wife from Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre”; Sena Jeter Naslund’s “Ahab’s Wife” (1999), which offers a fresh angle on Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”; and Christina Baker Kline’s “A Piece of the World” (2017), inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s iconic painting, “Christina’s World.” Like these novels, “Hester” dramatizes the challenges for women seeking freedom and autonomy in a male-dominated world. 

Albanese reminds us in an author’s note that of the five novels Hawthorne published in his lifetime, “The Scarlet Letter” is the only one whose source of inspiration remains murky. Conjectures that Hawthorne shared more with his hypocritical clergyman Arthur Dimmesdale than he ever let on, and that his book was written as a veiled penance, underlie the plot of “Hester.” 

Albanese’s version of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne will appeal to contemporary readers as both a proto-feminist and a forceful single mother. She comes from a long line of red-haired Isobels, beginning with the healer Isobel Gowrie, who barely escaped the murderous zealotry of witch-hunters in 17th century Scotland. One hundred and fifty years later, young Isobel, a gifted needlewoman, dreams of her own escape from the limited options open to women; her greatest desire is to own a dressmaking shop. Alas, she has hitched her star to Edward Gamble, an apothecary with a ruinous penchant for poppy that lands the couple in debtor’s prison. After Isobel’s father bails them out, they sail to Salem in 1829 in hopes of a fresh start. Things don’t turn out as planned.

In addition to her extraordinary talent for embroidery, Isobel is blessed – or cursed, in her late mother’s opinion, who feared its association with sorcery – with what we now know as synesthesia. Isobel’s form of this sensory phenomenon of “joined perception” leads her to associate sights, sounds, words, and letters with specific colors. Fittingly for the purposes of this novel, she associates the letter A with the color scarlet. But in a move that feels too much like narrative convenience, she signs all her needlework with a tiny, hidden scarlet letter A – not for adultery, but for Abington, her birthplace beside the River Clyde in Scotland.

Because most of Isobel’s experiences are literally tinted by the hues she associates with them, the novel is awash in color. Isobel hears her beloved father’s voice as soft caramel, her mother’s as sapphire and emerald. Most women in the book, however, generally speak in pastels. When Nat touches her, Isobel sees “explosions of color… persimmon, cinnamon, India-ink blue, lemon yellow, poppy red, tangerine.” 

Unfortunately, weaving this unusual condition into the narrative comes to feel like a heavy-handed distraction. “Hester” is already richly threaded with so many details, including vivid pictures of life in the bustling port town of 19th century Salem, where newcomers are not welcome and a young redhead with a brogue, however highly skilled, is spurned by employers. While Isobel’s way of seeing leads to rainbow gardens and vibrant tapestries that map her life story, it also leads to some – I hate to say it – purple prose.  

Albanese’s Hathorne is an intriguing character who does not come across well: He is a cad, both cowardly and arrogant. Still, he is not the worst person in “Hester.” Yet Albanese carefully offsets these villains with a wonderful, multiracial cast of supportive, heroic men and women whom Isobel comes to love. Her refusal to be a victim or to allow her daughter to become an object of scorn turns “The Scarlet Letter” on its head. “Hester” is an inspirational tale about the importance of self-determination and the power of women joining together to overcome oppression in its many forms.

Heller McAlpin reviews books regularly for The Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR.

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Review: Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

Posted November 11, 2022 by Richetta in Adult Fiction , Book Reviews , Uncategorized / 0 Comments

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Named a Most Anticipated Book for Fall by Goodreads • Washington Post • New York Post • BuzzFeed • PopSugar • Business Insider • An October Indie Next List Pick • An October LibraryReads Pick "A hauntingly beautiful––and imagined––origin story to The Scarlet Letter ." –– People 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 Glasgow 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.

As an English teacher, I could not resist checking out Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese. My first encounter with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter was as a high school English student. While my teacher hammered away at all of the symbolism in the book, I was really wondering about how Hester was surviving around all of these low down dogs calling themselves her man in public and private (or not). The preacher was the worst! But so was her husband lurking around town like a creep.

The Woman Who Inspired Hester

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese tells the story of Isobel and her ancestors intermittently throughout the novel. Isobel’s ancestor of the same name was accused of being a witch in Scotland, but escaped the torture and ran away which is why Isobel exists today. Isobel is the woman that Albanese crafts the novel around as being the one who inspired the character of Hester in The Scarlett Letter .

You can quickly see the parallels between the two women. But Isobel is different, she can see colors everywhere and she is a keen businesswoman who figures out how to survive when her no-good husband leaves on a ship with her money. She is a beautiful, young redheaded Scottish woman who also has to be careful to abide by the rules of society and hide her gifts.

I am a big fan of Isobel because she is such a strong female protagonist. It’s easy to forget that she is only 19 because she deals with being abandoned by her husband and being left destitute like a pro. She knows her skills, she knows her own worth and she blinks back the tears quickly and moves onto to surviving and making a living for herself.

Historical Context

Albanese does an excellent job of bringing in the historical context of the time period to the novel. Doing so battles the nostalgic amnesia and erasure that haunts the majority of classic literature. The classics will often have you thinking that society was homogenous and that any world in the book is set in a bubble that can’t see the rest of the world. Hester brings up the fact that, of course there were Black people living in Salem. It also brings up the impact of slavery regardless of where it is currently outlawed in the country. The wives of ship captains had to get the money for their expensive dresses from somewhere. The money didn’t disappear just because their husbands stopped participating in the slave trade. No, it got reinvested and wealth was built with blood money. Black people living in Salem still suffer from the terror of runaway slave laws too.

As a Scotswoman, who is on the outskirts of society, she pays attention to these contradictions in society. She listens and watches as wealthy wives say they are against slavery because it is popular to say it now that slavery is not allowed in Massachusetts, but turn beet read when asked if their husbands used to be slavers. Salem is a coastal town, why wouldn’t the impact of slavery be visible in societal wealth and decision making? Isobel’s friendship with Mercy, a Black woman, leverages some important storytelling woven in with history.

Historical Figures & Sex

Soooooo, I’m going to warn you. Spoiler Alert… stop reading right now if you want to remain innocent.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is in this book having sex y’all. I’m not sure how I feel about it since he was a real person whose book I read in high school. My feelings so far are: 😳😟🫣 I mean…it just wasn’t on my bingo card for 2022. But Isobel calls him Nat. So I just used that to disassociate.

I read this book via audiobook and loved it. The narrator did an awesome job with the Scottish accent and it kept me fully immersed in the story. I would definitely recommend it. I felt the narrator lent to the authenticity of Isobel’s character.

Overall Thoughts

I thought this was a very intriguing novel of historical fiction. There are so many layers of female empowerment, immigration, the effects of slavery on society and more that I might even do a re-read to try and capture more from it. Beautiful writing, great story, awesome characters!

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#BookReview Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese @Laurie_Albanese @StMartinsPress #HesterNovel #LaurieLicoAlbanese #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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, 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.

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.

Absorbing, multilayered, and moving!

Hester is an expressive, compelling tale set in Scotland and Salem during both the early 1800s and 1662 when religious condemnation and fear of the unknown was rife, women with special abilities were labelled witches, the Underground Railroad was working tirelessly to give slaves the freedom they so rightly deserved, cruel and barbaric behaviour towards women who didn’t conform to what society deemed norm was still acceptable, and love still managed to blossom everywhere even under the most unlikely of circumstances.

The prose is evocative and rich. The characters are strong, resilient, and haunted. And the plot is an engrossing tale about life, loss, friendship, family, determination, courage, self-identity, sexism, prejudice, poverty, survival, romance, and the beauty of colour.

Overall, Hester is a book you have to read to truly appreciate just how atmospheric, alluring, and beautifully written it is. It grabs you from the very first page and does a remarkable job of blending historical facts with captivating fiction that’s both intriguing, creative, and exceptionally immersive, especially for those who, like myself, are fans of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

About Laurie Lico Albanese

Laurie Lico Albanese has published fiction, poetry, journalism, travel writing, creative nonfiction, and memoir. Her 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. Laurie is married to a publishing executive and is the mother of two children.

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New novel imagines Hester Prynne's origin story

• Carol Iaciofano Aucoin

Historical fiction featuring real-life characters is having a bit of a moment. In the last two years, bestseller lists have included novels showcasing notable real people as main characters, including William Shakespeare in Maggie O’Farrell’s “Hamnet” and Thomas Mann in Colm Toibin’s “The Magician.” Of course, with the Wolf Hall trilogy on Thomas Cromwell and the Tudors, the late Hilary Mantel had elevated this form.

All historical fiction contains a degree of speculation, but some novels in the genre grow directly from the question “What if?” This is what drives Laurie Lico Albanese’s engrossing “Hester,” in which a 24-year-old Nathaniel Hawthorne falls into a forbidden romance with Isobel Gamble, a (fictional) 19-year-old seamstress whose talent with needle and thread seems almost magical. Set in Salem years before Hawthorne became famous, “Hester” posits an intriguing theory about the origins of “The Scarlet Letter.”

For good or ill, unexplained details in a celebrity’s life can serve as a siren song to novelists. (In fact, “Hester” is not the first novel to speculate on an aspect of Hawthorne’s personal life. He was the subject, with Herman Melville, of Mark Beauregard’s 2016 novel “The Whale: A Love Story.”)

In her author notes, Albanese writes that in his twenties Hawthorne transformed from a college rabble-rouser to a subdued, solitary figure. Part of this may have been simply maturity. But Albanese does highlight “a guilt and shame that Hawthorne carried all his life” (as some literary scholars have also done). Was it due to his ancestors’ roles as judges in the Salem witch trials, or his own actions?

It’s significant, however, that this book is titled “Hester,” not “Dimmesdale.” Hawthorne plays a pivotal role, but this is Isobel’s story, told entirely from her point of view – a view that reflects some surprising courage and independence. Hawthorne is portrayed as a charismatic but brassbound young man, unwilling to step outside the comfortable confines of his social class.

Nineteen-year-old Isobel and her husband Edward arrive in Salem in 1829 eager for a fresh start. Back home in Scotland, Edward, an apothecary shop owner, had driven them to the poor house with a ruinous opium addiction. They barely get settled when Edward leaves for a months-long ocean journey, hoping to gather exotic plants for his business. He has no remorse about leaving Isobel alone in this new country, or about the savings he steals from her to fund his passage.

Left on her own and nearly penniless, Isobel finds work at a local shop tailoring clothes and embroidering gloves and other accessories. (Descriptions of sumptuous fabrics and Isobel’s intricate embroidery designs are one of the book’s great pleasures to read.) Though the shopkeeper recognizes her extraordinary artistic talent, she pays Isobel an unconscionably low fee, in part because, with her red hair and her deep Scottish accent, Isobel is an outsider.

As with her previous historical novels (“Stolen Beauty” and “The Miracles of Prato”), Albanese enlivens “Hester” with many era-specific details, including early 19th-century fashions, medicines, even birth control. She depicts Salem as a sophisticated world trading capital and a town whose history is older than the country. It boasts a busy wharf area, grand houses, an abundance of shops and institutions (including real-life establishments like Hamilton Hall, the Salem Gazette, and the East India Marine Society Hall) — and an airtight social hierarchy.

Isobel forms her own supportive community of shopgirls and housemaids from diverse backgrounds; she muses that “there is a long requisite of what a person must do, say, and be, in order to be truly American.” Albanese slyly shows how these often-invisible women know more about the inner workings of the town than some of the well-connected families.

Isobel keeps running into Nat Hathorne (the surname’s original spelling, before he later changed it to Hawthorne). Their encounters evolve from banter to flirtations to passionate romance. They’re both aware of how dangerous their relationship is; a woman can be banished from Salem for adultery.

Even infused with books and merchandise and food from around the globe, the Salem of “Hester” — just a few generations from the witch trials — has a wide vein of judgment and suspicion running through it.

Much of “Hester” is about secrets, and Albanese persuasively illustrates how a secret can empower or corrode the spirit of the person carrying it. As a dressmaker, Isobel knows something about necessary deceptions, how to mask flaws and draw the eye where you want it to go.

Moreover, from a young age, Isobel has been skilled in a different form of deception. Though she wouldn’t have a name for it, she has a form of synesthesia — her mind links letters on a page and words that people speak to particular colors and hues. She knows her difference might be viewed more as witchcraft than biology; she comes from a long line of women who had, as her mother called it, “the colors,” and some had been cruelly punished for it.

Isobel does share her secret with Nathaniel, telling him she sees A as red, B as blue, C as yellow, but that A is not just red, “A is a scarlet letter. …Red is passion and knowledge, but it’s also a warning of pain.”

In the book’s only structural distraction, Albanese alternates the main story with vignettes of Nat’s and Isobel’s ancestors. Less would have been more, so as not to slow the momentum of an otherwise compelling tale. Nat has a cynical view of Salem’s upstanding elite, including his family, as harboring shadowy histories that encompass descendants on both sides of the infamous witch trials. He tells Isobel “I know man’s nature better than most because I see what others refuse to. … that’s what I’m trying to put in my stories.”

Although, in “Hester,” Nat can be morally obtuse as well. When Isobel, horrified, relates a poster she’s seen about slavecatchers in town searching for runaways from a Baltimore plantation, Nat shrugs it off, saying “It’s best not to interfere in the property of others.”

Her rare gift, which she has learned to nurture and conceal, has given Isobel the insight to see people as they really are, much more so than Nat. She begins to wonder if the very impossibility of their affair — her marriage, the enormous gap in their social standings — might be part of Nat’s attraction to her. She begins to understand she will need to create her own, new life. And she knows, deep in her heart, that the emotional cost will be much dearer for him than for her.

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Carol Iaciofano Aucoin Book Critic Carol Iaciofano Aucoin has contributed book reviews, essays and poetry to publications including The ARTery, the Boston Globe and Calyx.

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Hester – by Laurie Lico Albanese – independent book review – Historical Fiction (United States)

NOTE : I was given early access to HESTER in exchange for writing an impartial review. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. Publication: October 4, 2022.

Once in a while, you find an historical novel that offers just a perfect combination of true historical events, original story, and detailed (even quirky) research. And what a treat it is! HESTER by Laurie Lico Albanese is just such a novel. Awarded five stars on Goodreads . 

The “Hester” of the title refers to Hester Prynne, the heroine of Nathanial Hawthorne’s book, THE SCARLET LETTER . And as Albanese explains in her own Notes and Acknowledgements, the premise of this book is “What if Hester Prynne told her own story?” Because, after all, isn’t it plausible that Hawthorne drew from his own experiences in writing a romance about doomed love?

The heroine of THIS book is Isobel, a Scottish immigrant, talented embroiderer, and descendant of a woman accused of witchcraft. Isobel and her husband wind up in Massachusetts in the late 1820s, where they hope to establish a more prosperous life in the New World. That’s where Isobel really puts her formidable skills to the test.  

Along the way, there is a sub-plot about enslaved people living in the North and those trying to capture and return them to their Southern “owners” to collect rewards. I picked up a bit of knowledge about ships and their various uses at the time. And who knew I’d find the details of how women’s clothes were made fascinating? Also, the book touches on synesthesia, which I knew little about.

Isobel’s story is inventive, with lots of unexpected twists and turns. It’s a novel about the nature of love, about learning who is truly trustworthy, and about relying on oneself to find happiness. I think I read this over a period of 36 hours. It’s really just a wonderful and completely captivating read!

More about the author, Laurie Lico Albanese .

You may be interested in my review of another book by Albanese: STOLEN BEAUTY

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Hester: A Novel Kindle Edition

Named a Most Anticipated Book for Fall 2022 by Goodreads • Washington Post • New York Post • BuzzFeed • PopSugar • Business Insider • An October 2022 Indie Next List Pick • An October 2022 LibraryReads Pick "A hauntingly beautiful––and imagined––origin story to The Scarlet Letter ." –– People 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 Glasgow 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.

• Print length 330 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher St. Martin's Press
• Publication date October 4, 2022
• File size 4006 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09NTKBCVL
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press (October 4, 2022)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 4, 2022
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 4006 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 330 pages
• #167 in Historical Literary Fiction
• #228 in Women's Literary Fiction
• #286 in Women's Historical Fiction

About the author

Laurie lico albanese.

Laurie Lico Albanese is an award-winning novelist and journalist. HESTER is an Audible Best Book of 2022, an IndieNext and Canadian and American Librarians October 2022 selection, a Gillian Flynn Best Books of Fall 2022, a Book of the Month club selection, and a finalist in the Goodreads Best Books of the Year. Laurie’s novel STOLEN BEAUTY was praised by the Wall Street Journal as “a work of art itself.”

Laurie is a recipient of a Catherine R. Dodge Foundation Visiting Fellowship to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, a Hadassah-Brandeis Research Award, and a New Jersey State Council of the Arts Fellowship in Fiction Writing. She’s taught literature and writing workshops at Wager College, Stonecoast Summer Writing Program at the University of Southern Maine where she earned her MFA, and elsewhere. Laurie’s novels have been translated into Italian, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and soon, Croatian. She lives with her husband and rescue dogs in New Jersey, where they raised their two grown children.

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Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese book review

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese was kindly sent to me by the team over at Duckworth books back in August and this month I decided to finally get around to reading it and what a wonderful read it was. It’s a beautifully written and wonderfully thought-out book that has left me thinking about it days after I’ve finished it.

Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase any product via the links provided below, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product.

Hester follows the story of Isobel Gamble and her struggle in the 1800s after she’s abandoned by her husband in a new land. She tries to utilise her hidden talent of embroidery but in a world that doesn’t like women being independent and with a hidden talent, she finds it far more difficult than she feels she might have if she’d just stayed in Scotland.

Hester plot – 4.5/5

Hester is a book all about Isobel Gamble and her marriage in the early 1800s to apothecary Edward who she hopes will be able to set her up for life. However, after seeming to settle in Scotland, Edward accepts a job which means he’ll be at sea for vast lengths of time, Isobele finds herself alone in Scotland without a husband or any money. So she needs to work out how to fend for herself.

Isobel also has something called Synesthesia which means she sees colours when people speak. During a time when people still think witches exist, she must keep this quiet from those she doesn’t trust. However, it does add a fantastic element to the story – literally being able to describe via the medium of colours how people are expressing themselves. For example, if someone she dislikes is saying something droll, it comes out as grey and black. But if someone she loves speaks, it comes out in warming, comforting tones such as yellows and ambers. It’s a great secondary layer to storytelling.

The plot is not dramatic and it isn’t particularly gripping – however, the way it is told and the underlying messages written within make this a really great overall read. The final third is quite tense and engaging and leads up to a great few chapters of page-turning action that round off the rest of the book well.

Hester characters – 4/5

Isobel Gamble herself is an enduring character. She arrives from a forward-thinking UK where women are becoming a more important part of society, accepted for their intelligence and usefulness. She arrives in an America where this isn’t yet so – men still rule the world and women aren’t “allowed” to have talents or show off their skills. They must stick to being a wife, and make sure everything is well at home. But when Isobel finds herself alone, she must fend for herself. She’s brave but shy – a combination that makes for a great and deep character.

As Isobel’s husband’s return becomes less and less likely, she grows closer to Nathaniel Hawthorne, a local writer. He’s a kind and honest man who is troubled by his dark past. He shows Isobel that, despite some of her premonitions on how men can act, there are good and smart men out there who don’t follow the regime, and who don’t rely on others to do their thinking for them. Their relationship is tepid and a little weak at times but slowly grows into something stronger and worth sticking out for.

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese final rating – 4.25/5

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese is a wonderfully written and romantic tale about the uphill fight Isobel has to face after her husband seemingly abandons her in America during a time when it isn’t so easy for women to make a name for themselves or even make a life for themselves on their own. Isobel’s synesthesia (the ability to see colours when people speak) adds a wonderful depth to the storytelling and character building with some of the characters already being very enjoyable. If you enjoy historical fiction and are looking for something a little more laid-back and poetic, Hester would be a fantastic option for you.

Pick up a copy of Lauren Lico Albanese here.

If you enjoyed this book, you may well enjoy my review of these books:

• The Spirit Engineer by A.J. West
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
• The Familiars by Stacey Hall

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• About the Book

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.

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.

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

• Publication Date: October 3, 2023
• Genres: Fiction , Historical Fiction , Women's Fiction
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• ISBN-10: 1250825164
• ISBN-13: 9781250825162

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Paul Auster’s Best Books: A Guide

The novelist played with reality and chance in tales of solitary narrators and mutable identities. Here’s an overview of his work.

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By Wilson Wong

Paul Auster, who died on April 30 at the age of 77, was an atmospheric author whose scalpel-sharp prose examined the fluidity of identity and the absurdity of the writer’s life. An occasional memoirist, essayist, translator, poet and screenwriter, Auster was best known for his metafiction — books that were characterized by their elusive narrators, chance encounters and labyrinthine narratives.

Consuming Auster’s genre-defying books is not unlike the experience of reading he describes in “The Brooklyn Follies”: “When a person is lucky enough to live inside a story, to live inside an imaginary world, the pains of this world disappear,” he wrote. “For as long as the story goes on, reality no longer exists.” Thankfully, Auster left us with many worlds and stories and realities to lose ourselves in.

These are the books that best represent his work.

The Invention of Solitude (1982)

Auster’s debut memoir, “The Invention of Solitude,” put him on the map as an exciting new voice in the literary world. Bold and inventive, it chronicles his life as the son of an absent father and the father of a young son. The book’s themes — grief, loss, identity, loneliness, coincidence — all became central in his later work, both fiction and nonfiction.

The New York Trilogy (1987)

This book is technically a triptych of novels (“City of Glass,” “Ghosts” and “The Locked Room”), each of which borrows elements from detective fiction by focusing on a man investigating a subject to the point of oblivion. But at its core, “The New York Trilogy” — likely his most popular work among academics, undergraduates and aspiring writers — is a meditation on the things that make a person who they are. It cemented Auster as a stylish writer, one whose distinctive narrators searched for meaning and identity, circuitously and in perpetuity, against the constraints of art and language.

Moon Palace (1989)

This novel has all the ingredients that readers came to expect from Auster’s work: the isolated male narrator, the search for an absent father and the disappointment of missed chances. It follows an orphan, Marco Stanley Fogg, on a picaresque journey west from New York as he tries to learn more about his family’s past. At times the journey is almost too farcical to be “unbelievable,” Joyce Reiser Kornblatt wrote in her New York Times review, but the book is grounded by a cast of characters both “heartfelt and complex.”

Leviathan (1992)

“Leviathan” — which borrows its name from Thomas Hobbes’s treatise about the role of government in society — is about a man trying to understand why a friend has blown himself up with a bomb. The Austerian themes are on full display, as our reviewer wrote, in “a work in which fictional lives are circumscribed by recorded events, and real people shape the destinies of conjured ones.”

The Book of Illusions (2002)

Questions of random coincidence bedevil David Zimmer, the book’s narrator, who appeared briefly in “Moon Palace.” Alone and on a path of self-destruction after losing his family in a plane crash, he becomes obsessed with the work of Hector Mann, an actor who vanished decades before and is presumed dead. After writing a book about him, Zimmer receives a cryptic letter saying that Mann is very much alive. The letter threatens to unravel Zimmer’s entire world, which Auster renders in a muted, elegiac tone.

The Brooklyn Follies (2005)

Set in an alluringly bleak New York, “The Brooklyn Follies” follows Nathan Glass, a cancer survivor looking for “a quiet place to die” until meeting someone who sends him spiraling into an existential crisis. Though the subject is solemn, this is Auster at his most playful.

4 3 2 1 (2017)

“4 3 2 1” is an epic bildungsroman that presents the life of a boy named Archie Ferguson in four versions simultaneously. At 866 pages, this book might sound like a drag; but as Tom Perrotta wrote in his New York Times review: “It’s impossible not to be impressed — and even a little awed — by what Auster has accomplished. ‘4 3 2 1’ is a work of outsize ambition and remarkable craft, a monumental assemblage of competing and complementary fictions, a novel that contains multitudes.”

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