Hester Daughters eBook Elayne Clift
Download As PDF : Hester Daughters eBook Elayne Clift 
Hester's Daughters is a contemporary, feminist retelling of The Scarlet Letter.
The Hester of Elayne Clift’s first novel was born in Boston in 1929. Her Puritan community is immigrant Jews. Spirited and humanistic, she makes her way in the world much as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s heroine did, bearing an out-of-wedlock child, Pearl (whose own daughter, Aviva, is bi-racial). The novel recreates the pivotal events and characters of the classic work, then imagines Pearl’s and Hester’s lives through the lens of gender in contemporary America.
“This is a story of relationships, power, and triumph,” Clift says, citing fin de siècle feminist social critic Charlotte Perkins Gilman. “It is a novel about ‘the new attitude of the full-grown woman, who faces the demands of love [and work] with the high standards of conscious motherhood.”
“Clift captures the spirit of Hester and Pearl, recasting them in a dramatic, compelling and expansive story, cutting across time and culture to excavate connections that bind the hearts of women, no matter the century,” one critic noted.
Hester Daughters eBook Elayne Clift
Hester's Daughters, by Elayne Clift, is a beautifully woven work of contemporary fiction that will stand the test of time as surely as Hawthorne's great classic, The Scarlett Letter. Clift's deft hand creates a modern Hester of enormous intellect and courage who, because she has the historical good fortune to come of age in the crucible of mid-20th century feminism, is able to become the architect of her life in a way that Hester Prynne - or Hawthorne - could never imagine.In the hands of a less talented writer, or one less steeped in classic literature, Clift's Jewish, mid-20th century Hester Prinsky might appear to be more akin to Streisand's feisty angst-laden Katie Morosky than Hester Prynne. It's part of Clift's genius that this is not the case; instead of rehashing in novel form the cheap stereotypes portrayed in contemporary literature and movies like The Way We Were, Clift delivers universal truths in complex packaging - so much so that if you have never read Hawthorne it could still be said that after reading Hester's Daughters, you have... because the themes about the human condition that Hawthorne mined so well are just as compellingly revealed in Clift's novel.
Clift replaces Hawthorne's cold, morally flawed Puritan world with the cold, equally flawed, puritanical patriarchy of a dysfunctional Jewish family - and her Hester, like Hawthorne's, is condemned to pariah status for her sins of the flesh. Unlike Hester Prynne, however, Clift's Hester is not forced to live a life in the shadows, forever seeking redemption. Whereas it is sometimes difficult for anyone born in the 20th century to imagine Hester Prynne's life or understand the forces that pressed down upon her and controlled her destiny, Clift's Hester Prinsky is a woman familiar to us. Hawthorne's Hester could control little but her interior life; she was not in control of what happened to her externally but only how she allowed it to shape the few choices open to her. Hester Prinsky, however, is eventually allowed to become the fierce and passionate engineer of her own life. Told through the voice of her daughter, Pearl (yes, this Hester has a daughter named Pearl), rather than Hawthorne's rather passionless narrator, the story is delivered with the love, passion, guilt and finally respect that all mothers hope they receive from their daughters. Clift's title, Hester's Daughters, is spot-on; Pearl is every bit deserving of top billing as her mother.
It is certainly not necessary to have read The Scarlet Letter in order to enjoy Hester's Daughters because this beautifully crafted dramatic tale can easily stand alone; however, it is made the more fascinating when put in juxtaposition to Hawthorne's classic. Therefore, if you've never read Hawthorne, can't remember if you did, or aren't inclined to try -- my advice would be to at least familiarize yourself with The Scarlet Letter. Your reading experience will be the richer for it.
Also, consider reading both books for historical reasons. Study Hawthorne and then study Clift. Then look around modern America and ask yourself whether we're preserving the world that women like Hester Prinsky helped create or are we returning to the dark and suffocating shadows that Hester Prynne knew so well. I can't be sure but I suspect feminist Elayne Clift, a gifted educator as well as author, is asking her readers to do the same. I'd like to also suggest that this book is especially suited to book clubs because it's exactly the kind of richly nuanced story that lends itself so easily to lively, informed discussion.
A beautiful book; a great read. Enjoy!
Maureen Gill
Author of January Moon
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Hester Daughters eBook Elayne Clift Reviews
Hester's Daughters, by Elayne Clift, is a beautifully woven work of contemporary fiction that will stand the test of time as surely as Hawthorne's great classic, The Scarlett Letter. Clift's deft hand creates a modern Hester of enormous intellect and courage who, because she has the historical good fortune to come of age in the crucible of mid-20th century feminism, is able to become the architect of her life in a way that Hester Prynne - or Hawthorne - could never imagine.
In the hands of a less talented writer, or one less steeped in classic literature, Clift's Jewish, mid-20th century Hester Prinsky might appear to be more akin to Streisand's feisty angst-laden Katie Morosky than Hester Prynne. It's part of Clift's genius that this is not the case; instead of rehashing in novel form the cheap stereotypes portrayed in contemporary literature and movies like The Way We Were, Clift delivers universal truths in complex packaging - so much so that if you have never read Hawthorne it could still be said that after reading Hester's Daughters, you have... because the themes about the human condition that Hawthorne mined so well are just as compellingly revealed in Clift's novel.
Clift replaces Hawthorne's cold, morally flawed Puritan world with the cold, equally flawed, puritanical patriarchy of a dysfunctional Jewish family - and her Hester, like Hawthorne's, is condemned to pariah status for her sins of the flesh. Unlike Hester Prynne, however, Clift's Hester is not forced to live a life in the shadows, forever seeking redemption. Whereas it is sometimes difficult for anyone born in the 20th century to imagine Hester Prynne's life or understand the forces that pressed down upon her and controlled her destiny, Clift's Hester Prinsky is a woman familiar to us. Hawthorne's Hester could control little but her interior life; she was not in control of what happened to her externally but only how she allowed it to shape the few choices open to her. Hester Prinsky, however, is eventually allowed to become the fierce and passionate engineer of her own life. Told through the voice of her daughter, Pearl (yes, this Hester has a daughter named Pearl), rather than Hawthorne's rather passionless narrator, the story is delivered with the love, passion, guilt and finally respect that all mothers hope they receive from their daughters. Clift's title, Hester's Daughters, is spot-on; Pearl is every bit deserving of top billing as her mother.
It is certainly not necessary to have read The Scarlet Letter in order to enjoy Hester's Daughters because this beautifully crafted dramatic tale can easily stand alone; however, it is made the more fascinating when put in juxtaposition to Hawthorne's classic. Therefore, if you've never read Hawthorne, can't remember if you did, or aren't inclined to try -- my advice would be to at least familiarize yourself with The Scarlet Letter. Your reading experience will be the richer for it.
Also, consider reading both books for historical reasons. Study Hawthorne and then study Clift. Then look around modern America and ask yourself whether we're preserving the world that women like Hester Prinsky helped create or are we returning to the dark and suffocating shadows that Hester Prynne knew so well. I can't be sure but I suspect feminist Elayne Clift, a gifted educator as well as author, is asking her readers to do the same. I'd like to also suggest that this book is especially suited to book clubs because it's exactly the kind of richly nuanced story that lends itself so easily to lively, informed discussion.
A beautiful book; a great read. Enjoy!
Maureen Gill
Author of January Moon
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