The story I heard from Hawthrone was The Scarlet Letter. His best known work. What inspired it or part of it was his family lineage which he traced back to the time of the Puritans (also known as the Pilgrams as well as the Dissenters) which bothered him. He did not like the Puritans because of their strict cultural codes.
The novel starts out in the 19th century (which was when the novel was written) than later goes a few centuries back when the Puritans were around. Hawthrone did have justification for his dislike of Puritans. Whether or not he was aware of it. He probably was aware of it. Puritans and aboriginals were at first cordial. It was the natives that helped these colonists to survive. But as time went forward and new pilgrams came, the help they got from natives was long forgotten. They started to enforce their views on natives. Eventually repressing these people. One of the punishments aboriginals received if breaking any of the enforced rules of these colonists was a life sentence of slavery. Plus these colonists were hard on their own kind as well. This he was aware of. Look at the notorious Salem witchcraft trials for starters. Hawthrone had an ancestor who was a judge during said trials. To my knowledge they're no citenzens accused of being witches in this story and only one native is seen but that character plays a small role which has nothing to do with the story. And nothing about aboriginal treatment is in Letter.
As for its reading, it was well performed. It wasn't bad. It was alright. But comparing it with readers like Christopher Plummmer, Richard Crenna and Martin Sheen it wasn't the best. They're no background sounds I recall. Said sounds might have helped. I can't recall any music scores. As I already stated, some audio books I’ve only heard once and have no need to hear them again. Others I’ve heard more than once. The Scarlet Letter is one of those stories I've heard once and don't want to hear again.