Hope Leslie: or, Early Times in the Massachusetts (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Set in seventeenth-century New England, HOPE LESLIE (1827) is centred around the female friendship between Hope Leslie, a spirited thinker in a repressive Puritan society who fights for justice for the Indians, and Magawisca, the daughter of a Pequot chief. A counterpoint to the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, HOPE LESLIE is also a revolutionary portrait of early American life, one that challenges the conventional view of Indians, tackles interracial marriage and cross-cultural friendship andmakes a claim for the place of women in America's national history.

Set in seventeenth-century New England, Hope Leslie (1827) portrays early American life and celebrates the role of women in building the republic. A counterpoint to the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, it challenges the conventional view of Indians, tackles interracial marriage and cross-cultural friendship, and claims for women their rightful place in history. At the center of the novel are two friends. Hope Leslie, a spirited thinker in a repressive Puritan society, fights for justice for the Indians and asserts the independence of women. Magawisca, the passionate daughter of a Pequot chief, braves her father's wrath to save a white man and risks her freedom to reunite Hope with her long-lost sister, captured as a child by the Pequots and now married to Magawisca's brother. Amply plotted, with unforgettable characters, Hope Leslie is a rich, compelling, deeply satisfying novel.