A Utah county attorney says he will not pursue criminal charges against this polygamous family made famous by a reality TV show. A federal judge is set to decide whether to allow a lawsuit to move forward that challenges the constitutionality of Utah's bigamy law. (AP Photo/TLC, Bryant Livingston, File)
For other uses, see Scarlet Letter (disambiguation). The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is an 1850 work of fiction in a historical setting, written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The book is considered to be his masterwork.
Updike wrote three novels of his own based on the characters of The Scarlet Letter; they're often called Updike's Hawthorne Trilogy. The final one, titled simply S., is the story of a 20th century version of Hester Prynne. Updike says Hester is fun to write about, because she was so irrepresible..