The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Book #41 for 2013
Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel opens with a lengthy prologue that explains his inspiration for writing the book before the main story starts; I didn't find it terribly exciting, but it's something that can probably be skipped.
The main story opens with the heroine, Hester Prynne, found guilty of adultery; the puritanical society she lives in sentences her to wear a scarlet letter "A" for "Adultress" on her chest, and she becomes a pariah in the eyes of the community. She refuses to reveal identity of the father, even to Pearl, her own daughter who was born as a result of her adultery.
I found it surprisingly easy to sympathise with Hester throughout the book, although I also found the story to be very slow-moving and ponderous. The parts that I enjoyed most were the chapters that addressed Hester's relationship with Pearl, particularly when the girl started asking her what the letter A was for, a question that she ultimately declined to answer; it made me feel sad for Pearl, who clearly had no idea what exactly was happening.
Another aspect of the book I quite liked was Nathaniel Hawthorne's use of language and metaphors in his prose, particularly later on in the book where the scarlet letter was described as "burning on (Hester's) breast").
Ultimately, this story seems to have been written mainly as a critique of puritanical society that Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in, as well as being a story about a woman who became an outcast to society. I found it difficult to get into at first, but I found it because more interesting in the second half, particularly as the story reached its climax.