America

Land of Big, Beautiful Books

Dear Reader,

This weekend America celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Written by Thomas Jefferson on his portable desk with a few simple tools: pen, ink, parchment, this founding document has us considering not just the political and social significance of the United States, but also our literary inheritance.

For a young country, America’s impact has been huge. Massive. So many big, beautiful books. Even our presidents write books. We are a great nation of great, big, beautiful books. The most beautiful in the world.

Oh my. . . . We’re a long way from the Gettysburg address.

In all seriousness, America has made a significant contribution to world literature with giants such as William Faulkner, Robert Frost, Henry James, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Langston Hughes, Elizabeth Bishop, Willa Cather, Flannery O’Connor, David Foster Wallace . . . This litany of literary stars would be incomplete, though, without the inclusion of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

A writer of Romances, of dark and mysterious tales, Hawthorne was one of those rare writers whose genius was rewarded in his lifetime. Even Edgar Allen Poe, who didn’t particularly like Hawthorne’s work, wrote:

“The style of Mr. Hawthorne is purity itself. His tone is singularly effective—wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes ... We look upon him as one of the few men of indisputable genius to whom our country has as yet given birth.”

Now, Wiseblood is not publishing some hidden-until-now fictional gem from Hawthorne, but this year, as America contemplates 250 circuits around the sun, we are publishing two-Hawthorne adjacent books. One must remain secret until mid-August. The other we can happily proclaim today, with all the enthusiasm of an early preacher waxing eloquent from a Puritan pulpit: Mr. Prynne by J. A. Gray (forthcoming in October 2026). Mr. Gray has worked behind the literary scenes for almost 50 years as an editor. All those years of reading, of devoted attention to the written word, come to bear on a strange and mysterious work of fiction: A re-telling of one of the most iconic American books, The Scarlet Letter.

Readers will remember the opening scene of Hawthorne’s tale: The newly recovered Prynne arrives, at last, in Puritan Boston, and there discovers a jeering crowd gathered before a platform on which his young wife, the beautiful Hester, is on display as a convicted adulteress—with a baby in her arms and a large red A on her bosom. When a busybody asks about his identity, Prynne assumes the name of Roger Chillingworth, and begins, in secret, his search for the man who both used his wife and abandoned her and her child.

Hawthorne warned his publisher, shortly before The Scarlet Letter was released, that the story was “dark and dismal.” And so it is. He set his fiction in 1642, in a new little harbor town, a Christian community, which Hawthorne the artist found to be troubled by sin and guilt and secrets. But in this embryonic city of Boston there are also human strivings that are neither dark nor dismal: there is love, loyalty, and insight; responsibility, charity, and child-rearing. Then, finally, there is healing.

In Mr. Prynne, J. A. Gray brings the Bostonians of 1642 to life once again, with new characters joining them, new scenes unrolling, and the revelation of hidden things. Mr. Prynne is fascinating, compelling, un-put-downable.

You’ll have to wait until October to read it (unless you are a reviewer, then reach out to Mary), but you can pre-order your copy now for only $16.00 from Wiseblood Books HERE.

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As always, thanks for reading,

The Editors at Wiseblood Books

P.S.

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