Conrad Richter, one of American literature's preeminent authors on the American frontier, highlights family hardship, individual suffering, and societal breakup in The Light in the Forest. Impeccably researched, Richter's novel takes place at a time of rapid change in the 18th century. True Son/Johnny is the protagonist, a white boy captured at the age of 4 by the Lenni Lenape Indians and later adopted as one of their own. Forced to return to his white family 11 years later, True Son/Johnny must address what it means to belong and face the consequence of defying those ties.