Readability: FleschKincaid Level: 11. the Puritans compressed whatever mirth and public joy they deemed allowable to human infirmity thereby so far dispelling the customary cloud, that, for the space of a single holiday, they appeared scarcely more grave than most other communities at a period of general affliction.' The novel is very well written and needs to be read in relatively small doses truly to appreciate the language, though it is short at only 138 pages. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Chapter 23: The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter Additional Information Year Published: 1850 Language: English Country of Origin: United States of America Source: Hawthorne, N. Hester builds a small business doing embroidery-work. Hawthorne is clearly sceptical of the grim joylessness of extreme Puritanism, when he describes one of their rare festive events thus: 'Into this festal season of the year. Listen to 25 episodes of The Scarlet Letter Audiobook (Audio book) on Podbay - the best podcast player on the web. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne may seem a victim and an object, but she also shows great personal strength. The story is told within a framework narrative, with an over-long introduction describing the author's personal experiences working in a custom house, where he purported to have found old documents describing Hester's story.

The story is about her relationship with her daughter, with an old doctor who is revealed to be her ex-husband, and with the clergyman who is Pearl's father. A young woman Hester Prynne with a baby (Pearl) is humiliated by the community and marked with the eponymous letter A for adultery (though the word is never used in the book). This mid 19th century American classic novel is very much set within the ethos and mores of the Puritan community in New England in the mid 17th century.

The scarlet letter audio book