Novels with the theme of persecution

[thecreature]

I'm interested in seeking out some novels with this theme. I'm highly interested in this theme, especially as it relates to puritanical witch-hunts, as in "The Crucible" (literally) or "The Scarlet Letter".

Unfortunately, searching Google didn't help me out much. Hopefully you guys can. Feel free to recommend novels of any era.

Thanks in advance.

[Kyriakos]

Kafka's The Trial?

[Scheherazade]

Not related to witch-hunts but maybe To Kill a Mockingbird?

[wessexgirl]

What about Les Miserables? I know it's not puritanical as such, but was ever anyone persecuted like Jean Valjean?

[Jassy Melson]

Quo Vadis. It is set in the Roman Empire in the early days of Christianity. There are some powerful scenes of persecution in the novel, but it is also a love story.

[dfloyd]

Nobel prize winner Anatole France. It is a satirical fictional novel with allusions to historical people, including Captain Dreyfus wrongully imprisoned by the French as a traitor. This is probably the worst case of antisemitism by a major European nation in the
19th century.

Quo Vadis? is set in the reign of Nero and is by a Nobel prize winner with the name impossible to spell: Henryk Sienkwicz or something like that. It was made into a passable movie in the early fifties with Robert Taylor. If I remember correctly, the movie has the erroneous fact of Christians being fed to the lions in the Colleseum. When, in fact, the Colloseum was not built until 3 or 4 emperors after Nero. There was a huge statue of some god (I forget which) on the property of Nero's Golden Palace which was called the Collosus; hence, the derivation of the name Colloseum. Nero's favorite trick was to dip Christions in tar, hang them from a high post, and set them on fire to illuminate the grounds of his Golden Palace. The movie does portray Petronius Arbiter in a favorable light and his suicide ordered by Nero.

[thecreature]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

Particularly the last two, as I haven't heard of them before and the descriptions are very intriguing.

I should clarify that the suggestions do not have to be puritanical or literally involving a witch-hunt, I was a bit tired when I wrote the OP and it came out like I was asking specifically for that. I'm just interested in persecution in general (the idea of somebody being wrongly accused). It's just my thing write now and I'd like to capitalize on my interest.

But, yes, Nero, the Roman Empire, Christians dipped in tar. Sounds very interesting indeed!

[Wilde woman]

There's definitely undertones of a witch-hunt in Joanne Harris' Chocolat.

For people wrongfully accused, The Count of Monte Cristo is a must-read.