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Product Description
Review
Praise for 'People of the Book' : 'Brooks expertly guides us to the conclusion that the world is made up of only two types of people: those who would destroy books and those who would give their lives to save them. This illuminating novel, like its predecessor, is well worthy of both Pulitzer and prime-time approbation.' Independent on Sunday 'These stories have a raw and visceral power. The book is full of historical detail.' Naomi Alderman, F.T. Magazine 'An irresistible subject, given urgency by its timeliness and poignancy by its paradoxicality: for the novel is based on the true story of an ancient Jewish codex saved from the fire by a Muslim librarian. Her performance will satisfy many readers.' Guardian Praise for 'March' : 'Brooks's considerable historical research for "March" is pleasingly lightly worn. Her efforts have borne a rich fruit. It is a big, generous romp that manages to make clever use of "Little Women" without suffocating beneath it.' Sunday Times 'A tightly controlled novel in which, you sense, every sentence has been carefully weighed and calculated, and Brooks successfully balances narrative leanness with luxuriant language. "March" is that rare species: a serious popular novel that is not afraid to grapple with big ideas.' Waterstones Books Quarterly 'Researched with great historical thoroughness, "March" hews faithfully to the spirit of Alcott's original ! Louise May Alcott would be well pleased.' The Economist
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
Book Description
A richly imagined new novel from the author of the New York Times bestseller, People of the Book.
Once again, Geraldine Brooks takes a remarkable shard of history and brings it to vivid life. In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Brooks has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure.
The narrator of Caleb's Crossing is Bethia Mayfield, growing up in the tiny settlement of Great Harbor amid a small band of pioneers and Puritans. Restless and curious, she yearns after an education that is closed to her by her sex. As often as she can, she slips away to explore the island's glistening beaches and observe its native Wampanoag inhabitants. At twelve, she encounters Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a tentative secret friendship that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's minister father tries to convert the Wampanoag, awakening the wrath of the tribe's shaman, against whose magic he must test his own beliefs. One of his projects becomes the education of Caleb, and a year later, Caleb is in Cambridge, studying Latin and Greek among the colonial elite. There, Bethia finds herself reluctantly indentured as a housekeeper and can closely observe Caleb's crossing of cultures.
Like Brooks's beloved narrator Anna in Year of Wonders, Bethia proves an emotionally irresistible guide to the wilds of Martha's Vineyard and the intimate spaces of the human heart. Evocative and utterly absorbing, Caleb's Crossing further establishes Brooks's place as one of our most acclaimed novelists.
Once again, Geraldine Brooks takes a remarkable shard of history and brings it to vivid life. In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Brooks has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure.
The narrator of Caleb's Crossing is Bethia Mayfield, growing up in the tiny settlement of Great Harbor amid a small band of pioneers and Puritans. Restless and curious, she yearns after an education that is closed to her by her sex. As often as she can, she slips away to explore the island's glistening beaches and observe its native Wampanoag inhabitants. At twelve, she encounters Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a tentative secret friendship that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's minister father tries to convert the Wampanoag, awakening the wrath of the tribe's shaman, against whose magic he must test his own beliefs. One of his projects becomes the education of Caleb, and a year later, Caleb is in Cambridge, studying Latin and Greek among the colonial elite. There, Bethia finds herself reluctantly indentured as a housekeeper and can closely observe Caleb's crossing of cultures.
Like Brooks's beloved narrator Anna in Year of Wonders, Bethia proves an emotionally irresistible guide to the wilds of Martha's Vineyard and the intimate spaces of the human heart. Evocative and utterly absorbing, Caleb's Crossing further establishes Brooks's place as one of our most acclaimed novelists.
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Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breathing life into the past.,,
By
This review is from: Caleb's Crossing: A Novel (Hardcover)
I was unfamiliar with Ms. Brooks writing until a friend in the publishing industry handed me an advance copy of this book. Once I read the page I was hooked! Ms. Brooks is a wonderfully gifted writer who has a talent for bringing the past to life. The story is told from the perspective of Berthia Mayfield, a ministers daughter, as she grows up in the late 1600's among the puritan pioneers of the small settlement of Great Harbor-present day Martha's Vineyard. She feels a bit of an outcast as being a woman she can not purse the education she desires. He young days are spent roaming the areas beaches were she encounters the native Wampangoag Indians. She is all of 12 years old whe she first meets the young son of a Chieftain. Caleb is approximately her age and the two form a tentative friendship. Both are curious as to the alien world in which the other lives, and to which both are in there own ways out cast.Bethia's father attempts to convert the local tribe but he is pitted against the tribes Shaman who's powerful magic has the minister questioning his own convictions. The Minister comes upon the idea to educate the young Caleb in the European tradition, and he eventually is at Harvard studying Greek and Latin. His education is supported by wealthy Patrons as a kind of experiment to see if the wild Indian can be educated. Bethia at the same time manages to go along with Caleb to Harvard she as an indentured servant. She is not sure of her fate but does not want to become a farm wife. Ms. Brooks makes great use of the characters of Caleb and Bethia, both outsiders to illustrate how a repressive dominate culture uses religion to control others who do not always fit into the main stream. The book is packed full of historical fact and outlook. The story of Caleb is actually thinly based on fact, and Brooks has taken this smaller sliver of history and developed a heck of a story. I look forward to finding Ms. Brooks past books and finding more great reading. I just finished another wonderful historical ficton novel "The Bridge at Valentine" Set In 1880's Idaho with a main female character that has a lot in common with Bethia.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
`He is coming on the Lord's Day.',
By J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Caleb's Crossing: A Novel (Hardcover)
It was the year of our Lord 1660 when Bethia Mayfield first met Cheeshahteaumauck. Bethia is part of a Puritan community that has broken away from John Winthrop's colony, and Cheeshahteaumauck is one of the Wampanoag people - the son of a chief. Five years later, Cheeshahteaumauck - now known as Caleb Cheeshahteaumauck - became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Very little is known about Caleb's life, which provides very fertile ground for Ms Brooks in writing this novel.It is called Caleb's crossing, but the character we see the most of is the fictional Bethia. It is Bethia who is able to tell Caleb's story - as she sees it - while undertaking some cultural and life crossings of her own. We largely see Caleb through Bethia's eyes and, through some of their interactions, get some sense of his world and the challenges he faces as he tries to make the most of the different forms of learning he acquires. We learn, too, of the challenges faced by Bethia as she seeks to reconcile what she knows and sees with what she feels and experiences. Bethia is so much a part of her world that she provides a means for the reader to traverse the intervening centuries to recognise (and perhaps to share) her experience. Bethia's view of Caleb's world is limited, and so is ours. Our view of Bethia's world is much clearer and while we might rail against the constraints of her life as a female in a Puritan world, many of us will be familiar with the historical fact of those constraints. There is beauty in this novel, both in the way in which language is used to convey the sense of the times and also of a natural world which may not be quite as familiar these days. Bethia is our witness to Caleb's life, and to her own. She is not unaware of the sacrifices he makes: `It has cost you your home, and your health, and estrangement from your closest kinsman.' I enjoyed this novel, and while I wanted to know more about Caleb, I accept that some crossings are more accessible than others. Bethia is a finely drawn character who brings this period to life. Jennifer Cameron-Smith
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
a review not of the book but of the reading,
By
This review is from: Caleb's Crossing: A Novel (Audio CD)
I admire and respect Jennifer Ehle as an actor, but her reading of Caleb's Crossing sounds oddly cadenced, even robotic. It is, in fact, so off-key, with emphases in the wrong places and emotion so poorly and inappropriately communicated that I had to abandon the audio version after 3 chapters. Trying to identify what was troubling me, I listened and could note, for one, that the reader pronounces the article "a" variously as the long a (sometimes) and the short "a" other times--but often in ways that don't sound at all natural to me. Perhaps there was research into pronunciation and speech patterns in preparing the reading, but the effect is to distract from the story rather than to convey it. Also, knowing that Ms. Ehle would have an accent (to our ears in any case) and is working so hard to lose it, I found that there was a sort of grinding quality to the reading. For these reasons, I do not recommend the audio version of the book. Ms. Brooks's book may be a great one, but I'll need to go to the written text to determine that.
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