Thomaston, Maine - The Let's Talk About It book group, facilitated by author and mentor Lee Heffner, will meet Tuesday, June 11, at 11 a.m. at Thomaston Public Library to begin a new series entitled "Where Am I? The Individual and the Community" with The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
From the Penguin Classics edition:
"In Nathaniel Hawthorne's dark novel, The Scarlet Letter, a single sinful act ruins the lives of three people. None more so than Hester Prynne, a young, beautiful, and dignified woman, who conceived a child out of wedlock and receives the public punishment of having to always wear a scarlet "A" on her clothing.
She refuses to reveal the father of her child, which could lighten her sentence. Her husband, the aptly-named Roger Chillingworth, who Hester thought had died in a shipwreck but was actually being held captive by Native Americans, arrives at the exact moment of her deepest public shaming and vows to get revenge. Her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains safely unidentified, but is wracked with guilt.
Though originally published in 1850, the story is set in seventeenth-century Massachusetts among Hawthorne's Puritan ancestors. In The Scarlet Letter, he created a story that highlighted both their weaknesses and their strengths. His knowledge of their beliefs and his admiration for their way of life was balanced by his concerns about their rigid and oppressive rules."
These discussions are always thought-provoking and lively, and we welcome anyone to join for one book or the whole series! Light refreshments are served.
Next month on July 9, we will discuss Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Copies are available to borrow at the library. For more information, please contact the library at (207) 354-2453.
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