"Salem was meant to be a new beginning, a place where the sharp scent of cinnamon and tea perfumed the air with hope; a place where the colours could be safe and alive in me. I was nineteen years old and Nathaniel Hawthorne was twenty-four when we met on those bricked streets. The year was 1829, and we each in our way were struggling to be free - he with his notebooks, I with my needle."
When Isobel and her husband flee from the life of debt and betrayal that he caused, she finds herself in a new unfamiliar country, troubled by both her trauma and her strange talents. But soon after arriving, she finds herself drawn to the enigmatic Nathaniel, a man struggling too, fighting with the guilt handed down to him by generations of ancestors who sent countless women to the gallows.
As they grow closer, they find their talents may go hand in hand - Isobel can stitch and weave a tale the way Nathaniel can write one. Together, they embark on a journey not only to find the hidden stories in their pasts but start a new story - and hope it doesn't end in fire like so many before them.
"In every mans heart there is a coffin and grave, that is what I know."
A quick note about The Scarlet Letter:
If you're not familiar with the book that provided the inspiration for this beautiful tale, The Scarlett Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, following the story of Hester, a young puritan woman who finds herself pregnant and guilty of adultery while her husband is presumed missing and forced to wear the mark of her sins. Even after the birth of her daughter, she is forced to carry the shame and the blame. It's a story of guilt and sin, of identity and independence, of nature vs society, and of love.
But the most curious part of the original source material, to me, is the note at the start of the book, explaining how it came to be. How a nameless narrator stumbles across a patch of cloth, emblazoned with a bright scarlet A, and a series of documents detailing the events of their small town many years ago. This narrator takes the story, and turns it into a work of fiction based on the people he discovers in the pages. Much like how this very story was born.
This is not just a retelling or reimagining, but an inspired story that imaginatively and creatively revives an iconic tale, plucking characters from pages and giving them a new life, a chance to rewrite their stories and reclaim their voices.
Albanese sets the scene masterfully, transporting us to a world that feels unknown and unfamiliar, showing us the dark nights and long days of a seamstresses daughter in vivid detail. We follow Isobel on her journey, getting to learn how she sees and interprets the world around her. Albanese mentions synaesthesia at the start of the book, a phenomenon that can make colours, words, textures, noises or other sensory experiences link together and feel differently to certain people. And it was of course not really understood until the late 19th century, and like always was unknown and therefore feared.
Isobel sees the world in colour, experiences her surroundings richly and vividly - is it witchcraft or science? Back then, these were largely the same. But whether she was a witch or not the storytelling undeniably has a sense of magic hiding in plain sight that left me bewitched.
This story projects Isobels voice, but intersperses her narration with old diary entries, taking us back to when witch-hunts and persecution were commonplace for any women who dared to think. While her husband is absent at sea, we get to meet the residents of her small town, and watch their relationships grow naturally - and these relationships drive the story quickly onwards and kept me hooked. She meets witches - and by this I mean bold, cunning, caring women who have suffered at the hands of others and who still hold on to their faith in the face of suffering. Isobel learns her own skills as a seamstress and her wisdom are plenty to help her survive and slowly learns not only who she is but who she could be.
Isobel tells us a story of making her way in a mans world, a story about strength, liberation and female power. And after reading this, I have no doubt that if anyone is capable of bewitchment, it's definitely Laurie Lico Albanese.
Thank you to Instabooktours and Duck Books for inviting me to take part in this tour. I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.
CW: racism, sexism and homophobia (contextualised), sexual content, fertility, abortion, death, violence.
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