historical fiction
Hester Prynne , Revealed In Laurie Albanese ’ s novel , the single mom is a force of nature WRITTEN BY JULIA MARTIN
In Hester , the latest novel by long-time Montclair resident Laurie Lico Albanese , the author puts afresh spin on aquestion scholars have wondered about since Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote his iconic novel The Scarlet Letter in 1850 : Who was Hester Prynne ?
Published by St . Martin ’ s Press on October 4 , Hester tells the fictional story ofIsobel Gamble , aScottish immigrant who lands inSalem , Massachusetts , in 1829 and meets the young Hawthorne . Albanese became intrigued bythe story behind The Scarlet Letter while earning her master ’ s degree increative writing six years ago . The iconic work is considered America ’ s original historical novel , and Hester Prynne its “ original feminist protagonist ,” she says .
Albanese , who wrote ( with Laura Morowitz ) The Miracles of Prato about painter Fra Angelico , and Stolen Beauty , about artist Gustav Klimt and his muse and patron , Adele Bloch-Bauer , allowed the idea to percolate . One day afew years ago , she was walking in Brookdale Park with her husband of 34 years , Frank Albanese , an executive with HarperCollins . “ We were bandying ideas for my next book back and forth and Isaid , ‘ What about , Who is the real Hester Prynne ?’” she recalls . “ Then Iwent home and called my agent and she responded , very excited , with ‘ Holy-something-unprintable .’” While the idea came easily , the creative process took four years .
WHAT IF … Montclair author Laurie Lico Albanese ’ s novel invents an answer to the question “ Who is the real Hester Prynne .”
HOW TOCONSTRUCT AWORLD
First , Albanese had to find agap in the record of Hawthorne ’ s life where she could insert her story . She got lucky : Biographies showed that he spent 10 years alone in his room learning how to write after his graduation from Bowdoin College . “ That was a gift ,” she says . “ I was free to invent .”
Her conceit , that he had an affair and fathered a child during that period , was doubly plausible
LAURIE LICO ALBANESE
because his other works all have storylines directly traceable to himself or his family .
The next challenge was creating his lover . Albanese spent about a year writing feminist writer Margaret Fuller , a contemporary of Hawthorne ’ s , into the role , but gave up when she couldn ’ t conjure any sexual chemistry . When she hit on the idea of making the Hester character arrive from Scotland , which has its own history of witchcraft trials , the tale started taking shape .
Parallel witchcraft threads helped entwine the protagonists . Hawthorne ’ s great-great grandfather was ajudge in the Salem witch trials , and he was haunted by acurse on his family shouted by awoman being hanged , Albanese says . A similar story in Scottish lore describes awoman who was accused of witchcraft in the late 16th century who also shouted a curse at her accusers ; Albanese gave her heroine that woman ’ s name , Isobel , and a related history . Trips to Salem helped Albanese develop the character of young Nat . One historian told her Hawthorne had a dark side , so she shouldn ’ t make him “ too nice .” She made Isobel the the poor , scrappy , uneducated immigrant outsider . “ One ofthe central themes of the book is , how do you embrace and gather your power ?” she says .
HESTER : ST . MARTIN ’ SPRESS ; ALBANESE : COURTESY OFMARTHA HINES KOLKO
6 FALL 2022 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE