There could not be a more perfect work of the American imagination than The Scarlet Letter.— D. H. Lawrence It is beautiful, admirable, extraordinary; it has in the highest degree that merit which I have spoken of as the mark of Hawthorne s best things—an indefinable purity and lightness of conception... One can often return to it; it supports familiarity and has the inexhaustible charm and mystery of great works of art. — Henry JamesThe Scarlet Letter is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850, and was an instant best-seller. It is also one of the first mass-produced books in America.Set in Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne who conceives a daughter through an affair and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. The book explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.The Scarlet Letter was one of the first mass-produced books in America. It was popular when first published and is considered a classic work today. It inspired numerous film, television, and stage adaptations. Critics have described it as a masterwork and novelist D. H. Lawrence called it a perfect work of the American imagination .