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 must read

This morning writing is a equalizer. It is powerful and negotiated humanity and spirituality at its core. This book will always be a companion and a guide.

Great story

I enjoyed this book and was not bothered by the narration at all, as some readers have said. To me, people of that time would not have spoken like we do now, so it seemed to fit. The story makes some very good points about unintended consequences.

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.

The Narration Takes Getting Used To

Would you consider the audio edition of Caleb's Crossing to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bethia.....such a strong and competent woman. Open minded and forward thinking.

What does Jennifer Ehle bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I'm not sure.......I seldom have the time to read a print version of a book. At first I didn't like the narration at all. But as I listened to the story itself I felt Ms. Ehle was trying to speak as one would during that time in history. She enunciates every work and speaks rather stiffly.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, after getting used to the narration.

Great history

I am a fan of the author-Geraldine Brooks. People of the Book was a memorable read. So I decided to give this novel a try.

Although fiction, this book was inspired by a true story. The college of Newtowne was founded in 1636 and is now called Harvard and the total number of graduates in the 17th century was only 465. Caleb was a Wopanaak born on the island of Noepe now known as Martha's Vineyard and one of the first Indians admitted to Harvard in 1661.

Brooks has a gift of taking historical material and letting her imagination create a wonderful story.

Disapointing reading.

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

I found the reading to be stilted and awkward. This detracted from an otherwise okay book.

Terrible Narrator

I gritted my teeth and listened to this book because it was the choice for my book club for April.
This was the worse narrator for any new or, for that matter, old book in our library. Imagine a - dash - between - each - word and that is how the narrator came across to me. What in the world was the director thinking to allow this? Certainly, people during that time period did not pause in between each word they spoke!

The story was well done and I strongly suggest that this book be read the old-fashioned way.

This has to be my favorite!

What did you love best about Caleb's Crossing?

An incredible performance by the narrator!. Since the story was told in first person, I felt the narrator needed to be convincing, and she was!

What did you like best about this story?

I truly love the imagery Brooks painted of the island. I, too, fell in love with it as I listened.

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

I have not yet listened to other performance by Ms. Ehle, but I will definitely go out of my way to look other books read by her.

Good Listen

Liked the book. The reader did a good job. Good and steady story line. Hood

Shows the checkered past of colonist and native americans

I really enjoyed the book narrated by Jennifer Ehle of Pride and Prejudice fame. Her voice was perfect for the narrator of the book, the colonist Bethia. The early childhood exploration of friendship between the native American Caleb and English Bethia and indoctrination of Caleb as a Christian and Harvard scholar parallels and asks us to further question thr relationship of all settlers with the people who were here first. Would Caleb have been better off without the offered “help”?