In the novel by F. Cooper, “The Leatherwoods” (a.k.a. “The Oak Openings”), the reader will find much of what has long become a “family resemblance” of this writer’s works: descriptions of the life and everyday life of the country’s native inhabitants—Indians—and white settlers; numerous hunting scenes; a love that sweeps away even the most unimaginable obstacles; fidelity to a word given once and readiness to prove that fidelity at the cost of one’s own life...
Written in one continuous breath, a novel that is practically unknown today, will not leave indifferent either those who value a sharp, constantly gripping plot or those interested in the conditions under which the American continent was developed at the beginning of the last century.