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The Scarlet Letter
They made her wear the letter. She made it mean 'Able'. The guy who hid his secret? Didn't go so well for him.
Who it's for
The novel sets three responses to one event side by side: Hester carries her shame openly, Dimmesdale hides his, and Chillingworth feeds on revenge.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel is set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1640s. Hester Prynne, who has borne a child out of wedlock, is publicly punished and made to wear a scarlet letter A, and she raises her daughter Pearl while refusing to name the father.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US (1850, English); free on Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks, with free LibriVox recordings. In print and in libraries (Libby/Hoopla), with commercial audiobooks.
Before you start
Heads up: Self-harm and public humiliation.
Age: Ages 14+
Out, damned spot! out, I say!William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1
