The Light in the Forest

The Light in the Forest is a novel by the American writer Conrad Richter, first published in 1953 by Alfred A. Knopf. It is set in the American colonies in the 1760s and its story is based on the practice by which children taken in raids were raised within the nations that had captured them.

The book opens in the autumn of 1764. John Butler, now about fifteen, has lived with the Lenni Lenape in the Ohio country since he was taken from his family's farm in Pennsylvania, and his adoptive father, the warrior Cuyloga, has renamed him True Son. A peace treaty between the Lenape and the British requires the return of white captives, and True Son, who does not want to leave, is escorted by a young soldier named Del Hardy to Fort Pitt, where his blood father, Harry Butler, collects him and takes him home to Paxton Township.

The novel follows True Son's resistance, his growing fondness for the younger brother who is fascinated by him, and the argument with his uncle Wilse over what the settlers have done to the peoples they displaced. A film adaptation followed in 1958.