An instant best-seller when first published, The Scarlett Letter is a masterful tale whose universal themes remain relevant today, This powerful gothic drama, set in Puritan Boston, tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an adulterous affair with an unnamed man. Branded with a scarlet letter A and isolated in a strict conformist community intent on pushing her to the fringes of this wild and emerging country, Hester struggles to forge a new, dignified existence with her daughter. Then a mysterious individual arrives, intent on unmasking her companion. The Scarlet Letter's themes of hypocrisy, women's role in society and the destructive power of guilt are as relevant as ever, making Hester Prynne a classic heroine with a great deal to say to the twenty-first-century reader.