Presents an annotated edition of "The Scarlet Letter," the story of a young wife convicted of adultery in seventeenth-century New England, and includes five shorter works by Hawthorne, a selection of the author's letters and notebook entries, and critical commentary.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel brings to life the attitudes and passions of 17th century New England. Condemned by her Puritan fellows for having a child out of wedlock, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet letter.