Since Updike has always been preoccupied with religion and sexuality, it is not surprising that a number of his novels share affinities with The Witches of Eastivick. Couples (1968) tells the story of men and women living in a small new England community similar to Eastwick; there, too, a veneer of respectability covers lives of desperation, longing, and sexual promiscuity. The three novels which Updike has written as a modern retelling of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter also focus on themes of sexuality and religion: A Month of Sundays (1975), Roger's Version (1986), and S. (1988; see separate entry). The men and women in these novels, modeled on those in Hawthorne's tale of adultery and reprisal, bear some similarities to ones in The Witches of Eastwick, although none of these novels includes the practice of witchcraft as a premise for the behavior of its characters.