Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1874)By Nathaniel Hawthorne. (298p.) Higginson offers a modern reprint of the 1874 edition. *Available in softcover and hardcover. "The Scarlet Letter" is an 1850 fictional novel in a historical setting, written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The book is considered to be his "masterwork". Set in 17th century Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an