It was a best seller from the moment it went on sale — likely because of its theme. Infidelity is the world’s oldest sin, and has been treated with various degrees of tragedy and comedy for ages before Nathaniel Hawthorne decided to weave a dense, psychologically heavy tale around it, taking for his protagonists a “fallen woman” and the sinning minister who helper her fall.

On this day, March 17, in 1850 The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne’s magnum opus, went on sale in the United States. Though the author himself doubted it would not gain wide appeal due to its challenging subject matter (and with some critical reviews agreeing) it became instantly a bestseller.

The Scarlet Letter has been adapted into countless other forms, including plays, and films. Among the most recent was the film Easy A, with Emma Stone playing a clean-cut high school student who uses her school’s vicious rumor mill to her own social advantage. While obviously not a faithful rendition of the novel, it still parallels the themes of morality.