Caleb’s crossing, by Geraldine Brooks

Another first-rate historical novel by Brooks, whose earlier works include World of wonders, set in the plague year of 1666, and March, a creative retelling of what Father March was up to during the Civil War, while Marmee, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy fill up the pages of Little women. Caleb’s crossing is inspired by the brief facts known about an Indian youth who successfully graduated from Harvard in 1665. Bethia, whose name means “servant,” encounters Caleb, a Wampanoag Indian called Cheeshahteaumauk in his language, in the woods near her frontier home on present-day Martha’s Vineyard. Her father is actively engaged in missionary work to his tribe. Bethia and Caleb, both about twelve, form a secret friendship and their lives become further entwined when Caleb comes to study with her father alongside his not-too-bright son, Makepeace. Caleb is torn between his own culture and that of the European world, while Bethia, who longs for education and is by far her brother Makepeace’s intellectual superior, is constrained by a culture which doesn’t value female intellect and sees women as servants of men. As in her earlier books, Brooks use of period language adds a great deal to pleasure of the reading this remarkable book. A thoughtful novel that sheds light on religion, education, and history. Highly recommended. 320 pp.