The Scarlet Letters
A Novel
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2.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times–bestselling author puts a modern twist on the Nathaniel Hawthorne classic with this novel of wealthy 1950s society.
The year is 1953, and the coastal village of Glenville, on the opulent north shore of Long Island, is shaken by scandal. Ambrose Vollard, the managing partner of a prestigious Wall Street law firm, gets word of an alleged affair in his family. Most astonishing, the adulterer is Rodman Jessup, Vollard’s son-in-law, junior partner, and most likely successor.
Until now Jessup has been admired for his impeccable morals and high ideals—so what could explain his reckless affair with a woman of fading charms? All is on the line for Jessup, who threatens to upset Glenville’s carefully calibrated social order. As each family member learns of the affair, the story reveals layer upon layer of abiding loyalties and shameless double-crossing. Wise and exuberantly entertaining, The Scarlet Letters is an absorbing tale about the temptations of power, wealth, and passion.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Auchincloss's latest novel takes place in familiar territory the world of the privileged classes in 1950s New York and acquires extra resonance from its mirroring of Hawthorne's famous tale of guilt and redemption. The story opens with a scandal: respected New York lawyer Ambrose Vollard is shocked by the flagrant adultery of his favored son-in-law and heir apparent, Rod Jessup. The author then explores Vollard's rise from ignored son to head of his beloved law firm; his marriage to Hetty, the intelligent daughter of a Boston preacher; his indulgence of his favorite daughter Lavinia; and her relationship to the somewhat puritanical Rod, who is troubled by ghosts of the past, personified in the more hedonistic Harry Hammersly, his best friend and colleague at Vollard's law firm. When Vinnie and Rod divorce and she quickly marries Harry, the story the battle between a too-strict moralism and a cynical disregard for right and wrong is only beginning. Auchincloss's writing, which can seem somewhat old-fashioned and burdened with authorial exegesis rather than demonstration of character, makes perfect sense in the context of this near-allegorical morality tale, and readers are rewarded with an embellishment of the simple dichotomies of Hawthorne's novel with an appropriately ambiguous ending. The 1950s context allows the scenes of spiritual, sexual and legal corruption to have an impact they might not in a modern setting, and while the author makes apparent the force of personal history justifying each character's actions, it is always clear who the good guys and bad guys really are. This is a satisfying and sometimes surprising story from a past master of New York tales.
