Amur the Father

The history of the exploration of Siberia and the Far East by Russian pioneers formed the basis of several novels by the famous Soviet writer Nikolai Pavlovich Zadornov (1909–1992). Among them, the duology "Amur the Father" is particularly beloved by readers. In the last decades of the 19th century, rich gold placers were discovered along the numerous tributaries of the Amur River. Driven by need and deprivation, settlers from Central Russia move in whole villages to this wild and harsh land, where good soil, abundant game, and fish are plentiful, and the waters of the Amur River carry grains of precious metal. Here and there in the depths of the Amur forests, republics of miners arise — tiny states within a state, with their own laws and rulers, who are sometimes unafraid to engage in open struggle with the tsarist authorities...