Northwest Territory, 1798. Merchant-trader Calvin Tarkington leaves behind his comfortable life in New York when he journeys to the frontier to assist an old friend who has fallen ill. Once across the Ohio River, he is drawn into the struggle between abolitionists and slaveholders. As a winter storm descends upon western Kentucky, Calvin and a group of fugitive slaves find themselves on the run, hunted by a band of ruthless slave catchers. The third installment in the Tarkingtons series, The Northwest Country delves into the history of the emerging crisis over slavery in the early American Republic. Critics have praised the Tarkington novels for their mix of historical detail and compelling action, describing them as "brilliantly drawn," and "riveting and spectacularly researched."