"The Scarlet Letter" is a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne published in 1850 and considered a masterpiece of American literature and a classic moral study.

The year is 1642. Boston is a Puritan settlement, and one of its citizens, Hester Prynne, is led from the prison to the scaffold to stand in judgement before the town magistrates. In her arms, she carries her infant daughter Pearl, whose birth has sparked this inquiry. On the scaffold, Hester refuses to reveal the name of the child's father. As punishment, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet letter A that marks her as an adulteress...