The Scarlet Daughter

A vivid, deeply satisfying debut that imagines the life of Pearl Prynne, the forgotten and scorned daughter at the center of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s infamous novel, for an outspoken new generation of women.

Born under the stain of her mother Hester’s scarlet letter, Pearl spends her childhood as an outcast, bearing the burden of her mother’s shame. When widowhood allows the pair to flee, their ocean voyage becomes an education for the precocious Pearl, who learns to read the stars in tandem with the cruelty—and desires—of men.

In England, Pearl tries to outrun the trauma of her life in Salem. She befriends a curious boy named Isaac Newton, who studies furiously as Pearl paints with equal fervor, and soon her reputation as an artist takes flight. Offered a job as an apprentice to the king’s painter, Pearl moves to London, eager to make a name for herself.

With Isaac’s jealousy of her success threatening their love for each other, Pearl’s life in London is marked by hardship and tragedy. She finds solace in her painting and charity work but realizes she cannot bear witness to the injustice around her. Rebellious and determined, Pearl takes on the powerful institutions that have crushed so many before her. As they close in on her, Pearl is forced to make an unbearable calculation: What is her independence worth? And how much is she willing to pay for it?

A masterclass in the human condition and what comes of literature’s most audacious women, The Scarlet Daughter is a bold imagined sequel to an American classic.