Caleb's Crossing

The author of the New York Times bestseller People of the Book returns with a vividly conceived new book.

Geraldine Brooks has done it again, taking a magnificent fragment of history and bringing it to life. A young man from Martha's Vineyard graduated from Harvard College in 1665, making history as the first Native American graduate. A brilliant story of love and faith, magic and adventure, has been masterfully crafted by Brooks on top of this thin historical framework.

Bethia Mayfield, the narrator of Caleb's Crossing, grew raised in the little town of Great Harbor with a small group of Puritans and pioneers. She is restless and inquisitive, and her sex prevents her from pursuing her desire for study. She sneaks out as frequently as she can to see the island's shimmering beaches and take in the local Wampanoag population. When she meets Caleb, a chieftain's young son, at age twelve, the two begin a cautious, covert bond that pulls them each into the other's strange world. When Bethia's minister father attempts to convert the Wampanoag, the tribe's shaman becomes enraged and forces him to put his own beliefs to the test. One of his initiatives turns into Caleb's schooling, and a year later, the colonial elite of Cambridge is learning Latin and Greek with Caleb. There, Bethia is obediently forced into domestic service and gets to see firsthand how Caleb bridges cultural divides.

Bethia proves to be an emotionally captivating guide to the wilds of Martha's Vineyard and the private places of the human heart, much like Brooks's adored narrator Anna in Year of Wonders. Caleb's Crossing, an incredibly captivating and evocative book, solidifies Brooks's standing as one of our most renowned authors.

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