 Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity.Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.These novels place their characters within the events of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era.