Caleb's Crossing

A Novel

By: Geraldine Brooks

Narrated by: Jennifer Ehle

Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

A richly imagined new novel from the author of the New York Times best seller 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 12, 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' 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.

©2011 Geraldine Brooks (P)2011 Penguin

Critic reviews

“Caleb’s Crossing could not be more enlightening and involving. Beautifully written from beginning to end, it reconfirms Geraldine Brooks’ reputation as one of our most supple and involving novelists.” (Jane Smiley, The New York Times Book Review)

“Brooks filters the early colonial era through the eyes of a minister’s daughter growing up on the island known today as Martha’s Vineyard…[Bethia’s] voice - rendered by Brooks with exacting attention to the language and rhythm of the 17th century - is captivatingly true to her time.” (The New Yorker)

“A dazzling act of the imagination. . .Brooks takes the few known facts about the real Caleb, and builds them into a beautifully realized and thoroughly readable tale…this is intimate historical fiction, observing even the most acute sufferings and smallest heroic gestures in the context of major events.” (Matthew Gilbert, The Boston Globe)

A good story and well told

I absolutely love the author and everything she has ever written. She does her research deeply and thoroughly and immerses the reader in the characters.

Caleb's Crossing is meant to be listened to!

Historical fiction has never been my favorite genre, but Caleb's Crossing and Geraldine Brooks have shown me that it certainly could be. I thought I was going to be reading the story of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard. While Caleb was a central character in the novel, Bethia the narrator, takes center stage. Brooks tells Caleb's story through Bethia, and we cringe in shame at the taming of the "salvages", "helping" and controlling them in the name of religion. Bethia tells her own powerful story, and we shake our heads at the treatment of women, who are also "helped" and controlled in the name of religion.


The language, oh, the language! It is what earned the last star to make this a 5 star book. This story is perfect in audio format, and Jennifer Ehle narrates it perfectly. The language helped create authentic atmosphere for me, along with curiosity about where these words have gone. Why don't we use posset, bever, misliked, and harlotize? It's not only 17th century language that Brooks explores; there is also fascinating information about the Wampanoag language, told as Bethia learns it.


I will be reading more of Brooks' books, and I have high hopes that Geraldine Brooks will make me a fan of historical fiction!

Another good entry into fiction!

I find these historical analyses (through fiction) of our complicated history fascinating and helpful even 400 years later. An honest story, of course with an improbable "21st-century" heroine but I'll accept that as long as the details of her conceivable 17th-century life and sensibilities can somewhat match her 21st-century intuition.

Brilliant!

Decide in advance that you will picture the reader in the time period of the book and that someone might actually speak with severe enunciation. Then - - enjoy the FABULOUS book - you won't be able to put it down. I am looking for other books by this author right now, I can hardly wait!

hurt my head

boring as a rock, good narration, but the story itself is pushing me to suicide

This book drew in my heart

What a fiercely gentle and eloquent story. I loved it as much as I love where it takes place.

Another great piece of literature from Brooks

What made the experience of listening to Caleb's Crossing the most enjoyable?

Brooks always conducts thorough research of her topics in order to present as accurate and rich a picture of the time and place as possible. Caleb's Crossing is no exception. She has selected an interesting and difficult time in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Written in the voice of the daughter of a preacher on Martha's Vineyard, she has addressed the issues of religious zealotry, woman's place in that society, inter-class dynamics, and prejudice against Native Americans. She is a truly gifted writer and her characters, although carefully defined by the values and beliefs of the era, are compelling and believable. Like her other books, she manages to connote struggle, tragedy, passion, and redemption. I know some people have an issue with the reader, but Brooks always seems to find the right voice for her stories. I felt Jennifer Ehle was a good choice for this book.

Slow story pace, annoying reader

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Probably better to read this book, since reader's style was annoying, and if you read the book you can skim parts of the book. Several friends agreed that the reader's effort to sound accurate and formal for the era was grating and almost made them stop listening. The actress who read the book is a terrific actress, but the reading style for this book was painful to listen to.

Amazing story

It is my first time with this author and all I can say is Bravo Bravo. It is a story in the beginnings of Harvard and Indians who attend but much more than that. A love story of sorts. I had tears flowing at the ending not just because of what happens but that it was ended!!!! The reader was somewhat bland but acceptable Will look for more from the author

Caleb's Crossing - Worth the Journey!

Where does Caleb's Crossing rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is only my second Audible.com book and while I've enjoyed both, I would say this was my favorite.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Caleb's Crossing?

I loved the moment when Bethia gives Caleb her book (the Puritan Version of See Jane Run!), and the moments of the two of them growing up on the Island. Perhaps the most moving moments was when Bethia assists him in his "Crossing" (with the help of the powerful Sonquem, Tequamuack - Caleb's Uncle and Powerful "Medicine Man."

Have you listened to any of Jennifer Ehle’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I believe I have heard Jennifer Ehle's performances...but I forget. I really liked her voice in this reading I must say. Most of all, I loved hearing her pronunciations of the Indian words -- words like Wopanaak, and Capawock and Cheeshahteaumauk. I"ve read many books regarding Native Americans my entire life but reading the word without hearing them pronounced is an entirely different thing...they were pronounced much differently than I might have guessed and in Ehle's beautiful voice they came alive. Certainly makes me want to listen to many more books with "nontypical" words or languages. Lovely. Created a sort of door-way to another world...one that I"m sure I share blood with-- both from Bethia and from Caleb. Very powerful.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I found the book emotional but more of a cerebral experience. The most emotional part of it was hearing the beauty of the language, and hearing Bethia's language...ancient peoples each in their own way.

Any additional comments?

Some of my book club members were put off by what they felt might have been an over-idealization of the "noble savage" at the expense of the English settlers in Cambridge and the Islands. I did not see it as so - I thought it was extremely credible, and felt she portrayed both the English and the Indians in "good and bad" ways not oversentimentalizing. True, Caleb and his friend were perhaps overly brilliant, but I found them to be believable. Wished Bethia and he could have "hooked up" but know such a matching would have been quite unbelieable for their times! And ultimately, they had a connection that was more powerful than mere lust in the end...Excellent "read." And I loved having both on my Kindle and on audible...