Maine Read (Thomas Maine Read) — an English novelist—became famous as the author of exciting adventure novels “The White Chief,” “Osceola, Chief of the Seminoles,” and “The Headless Rider.” His best books, going beyond adventure fiction, paint a truthful picture of life and touch on issues relevant to his time: the trade in human beings, the extermination of the Indians, and the power of gold.
“Finger of Fate” and “The Brave Huntress, or the Squatter’s Daughters” are novels that were not published in Soviet times. The drama and desperate situations the heroes face in these novels will not leave listeners of any age indifferent: “After a terrible operation that left Henry without his finger, he spent two days in dreadful confinement. Rough food, brushwood instead of a bed, the pain in his wounded hand— all that was nothing compared to his moral suffering: his fear for the fate of his friend’s sister. He knew he had to prepare for the worst.”