Life begins with ensoulment. When the seamstress Asenath “Caroline” Smith first hears these words, it is earth-shattering. By 1817, America has changed. Caroline, a fatherless teenager from Connecticut, finds herself a reluctant witness against one of her two lovers—a minister and a doctor. Charged with “a brutal and high-handed assault on the body of Asenath Caroline Smith,” one will face a trial by jury. Each finds their lives upended forever. Years later, Nathaniel Hawthorne will turn this intimate, powerful, and infamous trial of the 19th century into a story of love and lust, crime and punishment, sin and redemption. “Behind the Scarlet Letter: Based on a True Story” is the origin story of the criminalization of abortion in America, and a must read for anyone wishing to understand the personal side of that history. This emotionally gripping, historical novel handles a sensitive subject with honesty and brilliance.