The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 novel by writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The work, Hawthorne's first full-length novel, is a classic of the American Romantic era. In June 1642, in the Puritan town of Boston, a crowd gathers to witness an official punishment. A young woman, Hester Prynne, has been found guilty of adultery and must wear a scarlet A on her dress as a sign of shame. Furthermore, she must stand on the scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation.