Hester in Sunlight

About Hester in Sunlight

Yes, that Hester — the fallen woman who bore the Scarlet Letter while raising her daughter on her own. She is looking back, across that clearing, and 150 years, at her fateful lover.
Less a re-telling or transposition of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic than a re-purposing of the materials to tell a different version, Hester In Sunlight, revolving around the relationships between the (unnamed) narrator; her husband Sonny and gender fluid child Luna; her sister Dani and her two kids; and their parents, is a heady and stimulating riff on contemporary motherhood and parenting.

Praise for Hester in Sunlight:
"In glittering language, Hannah Calder's new novel pulls readers through the thought patterns of a contemporary writer, of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and of his character Hester Prynne. Beautiful and fascinating, it's a wholly fresh take on The Scarlet Letter and its long reach. A book with a mind of its own."
— Alix Hawley, author of My Name is a Knife