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)

Marvelous Storytelling

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

Ms Brooks has the novelist's gift of making you believe you are there, 400 years ago, seeing what Bethia sees, sharing her feelings of pain, love, frustration and passion for learning. The story inspires you to want to know more of those times, and how our early nation evolved at the grassroots level, and especially how at the expense of the Indians whose lands we presumed to be ours.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked to try to anticipate how all the characters would evolve into adulthood. Like much in life, then and now, the story is full of surprises, many of them not as we would hope for.

What about Jennifer Ehle’s performance did you like?

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I felt she did an excellent job with all the characters, most especially Bethia, and her particular style of formal speech.

If you could take any character from Caleb's Crossing out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I would love to meet Caleb, assuming I could speak his language. He seemed to be able to comprehend the true nature of both his native, and adopted, societies. But I would hope that he brought Bethia, as she is so full of spirit and love of life.

Good book hurt by the narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would not recommend this book unless someone has a particular interest in early American life. It conveys well the discrimination faced by Native Americans and limited opportunities for women educationally and in control over their lives, but I didn't find the story particularly engaging.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I'd make the story a little less formulaic and predictable.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator took pains to enunciate every consonant of every word to the point that it became distracting and annoying. I had no problem with the language being of another era but the pronunciation did not come across as authentic, just stilted.

An Indian Friend

Well written and well read. A peek into our past as we took over the world with our ideas for the better. Was it truely better? What did we gain and what have we lost? Some things never change but a heart and a friend can be forever. A good read.

An authentic voice

This novel offers us an authentic voice about a little know bit of Americana. The mid to late 1600's and 1700 is a new and interesting bit of time in our history; the early years of Harvard, and Cambridge, Mass., the effect of religious zealots on the early Americas, the early efforts by at least a few of the English immigrants to live with the native Americans is something we have heard too little about.

Brook's voice and use of language is a rich addition to this really beautiful novel with the germ of a real event as the catalyst.

Disappointing

What did you like best about Caleb's Crossing? What did you like least?

The story moved very slowly, although the writing was extremely good. But the poetic prose couldn't make up for the slow pace.

If you’ve listened to books by Geraldine Brooks before, how does this one compare?

I loved "March," which I read on Kindle. I love the historical settings in both books but did not find the characters in "Crossing" nearly as interesting.

Did Jennifer Ehle do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The reading was average.

Was Caleb's Crossing worth the listening time?

Read "March" instead.

Based on a historical person

Nice, interesting book written about early 17th C Americans , both English and Native Americans...trying to get along on Martha's Vineyard. I liked the writing, -dialogue in the vernacular of the day-
Story of gender and race, nature and the importance of education.
Unique read which gives us a good picture of our country "back in the day."

Thoroughly enjoyed this - PARTICULARLY the reader

Would you listen to Caleb's Crossing again? Why?

This writer researched her topic and time period.

What did you like best about this story?

I really liked the character development and the writing.

Which character – as performed by Jennifer Ehle – was your favorite?

Hmmm, hard to choose, I liked most all of them. The reader was excellent!

Who was the most memorable character of Caleb's Crossing and why?

Bethia and Caleb are both very strong characters.

Any additional comments?

Readers of fiction and historical fiction will enjoy this book.

Abandoned Because of the Reader

The enunciation of every. single. word. was. so. distracting. that. I. had. to. abandon. the. audio. and. finish the book by reading it.

Facinating & riveting

I loved this story. Geraldine Brooks knows how to tell an entrancing story. This is one of my favorite books.

Little Known History Brought to Life

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

Brook's descriptions of the land and the sea.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed learning about the first Native American to attend Harvard and imagining what life might have been like in an early American colony. I particularly enjoyed the way Bethia's demeanor changed when she was in her element, describing nature and the things she loved. Those passages made the story really come alive.