The novel “Hop” is the first part of the famous trilogy “Tales of the People of the Taiga,” which glorified the name of the Russian Soviet writer Alexei Cherkasov. The creation of the novel was preceded by an amazing story: a mysterious letter received by Cherkasov in 1941, “written with the letter yat, with fita, izhitsa, straight, petrified handwriting,” served as the reason for meeting 136-year-old grandmother Efimiya, who personally saw Napoleon. Her stories formed the basis of the plot of the first book of “Tales.” In the depths of Siberia, the Old Believer community of Elder Philaret settled, where, by chance, midshipman Loparev, a participant in the Decembrist uprising who escaped from hard labor, ends up. Severe laws reign in the community, and life here is only up to the strength of a strong spirit... Years go by, generations change, and now against the backdrop of historical cataclysms of the early 20th century. The descendants of the heroes of the first part of the novel live out their destinies. Having inherited family traits, many of them have lost their family memory...