The Scarlet Letter: A Romance, an 1850 novel, is considered to be Nathaniel Hawthorne's "masterwork". Set in 17th-century Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, 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. It explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.