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Duckworth nets re-imagining of The Scarlet Letter from Albanese
Duckworth has netted Laurie Lico Albanese’s "sumptuously page-turning" historical novel Hester.
Rowan Cope, publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Kerry Nordling at St Martin’s Press, who will launch the US edition. UK audio rights have been licensed to W F Howes. The novel will be published in early October 2022.
Albanese’s protagonist Isobel Gamble imagines the woman who may have inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Gamble is a seamstress with unusual gifts passed down through her family, who flees Scotland to make a new life in the New World. The publisher wrote: "Arriving in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1829, she meets Hawthorne, a young man recently returned from college and brooding on the legacy of his town’s involvement in the 17th-Century witch trials. Soon it’s hard to tell which of the pair is more in thrall to the other..."
Cope commented: "We are delighted to welcome to Duckworth Laurie Lico Albanese and her gripping novel Hester, which laces a sumptuously page-turning plot with spooky female power and all kinds of challenge to the patriarchy. Hester is sure to appeal to readers who loved bestsellers such as The Confessions of Frannie Langton, The Familiars and The Manningtree Witches, and brings a fresh angle on our persistent interest in women who were historically considered ’fallen’ or treated as witches. Hester is already attracting praise from early readers and we are very excited to launch the novel with an energetic campaign this October."
Albanese said: "I couldn’t be happier to have found such a dedicated and high-energy team of publishing professionals to bring Hester to UK readers. I’m especially excited to introduce ’my’ Hester, Isobel Gamble, who is a native of Scotland and descended from the legendary Isobel Gowdie, Queen of Witches. My Hester wasn’t always Scottish. In the beginning she was an American, based on a real person who lived in Boston in the 1820s. The narrative was flat until Isobel Gamble appeared with her red hair, Scottish myths, and her synesthesia. She lit up the story, and entranced me just as she entrances Nathaniel Hawthorne. I hope she will entrance UK readers too."
