by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Great Classics / Historical novel · Language: inglese · 742 paragraphs · Free
In a stern Puritan settlement where sin is carved in stone and shame is worn like a brand, Hester Prynne stands alone on the scaffold, clutching an infant born of forbidden love. Condemned to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’ upon her breast for the rest of her days, she refuses to name the father—a silence that shields him but seals her fate as an outcast. Yet Hester’s defiance runs deeper than pride. She builds a life on the margins, raising her daughter Pearl with fierce independence, while the town watches her every move. But the shadows of the past do not stay buried. The revered minister Arthur Dimmesdale withers under a secret guilt that gnaws at his soul, and the vengeful physician Roger Chillingworth, returning to a home he no longer owns, turns his cold intellect toward uncovering the truth. As hidden threads tighten around them all, Hester must navigate a world that demands her repentance even as it denies her redemption. In a place where judgment is swift and mercy scarce, one woman’s courage threatens to unravel the very foundations of a society built on hypocrisy. What will survive when the secrets of the heart are finally laid bare?
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