Caleb’s Crossing – Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks was inspired to write Caleb’s Crossing after discovering that the first Native American to graduate from Harvard was from her home town, Martha’s Vineyard, and graduated in 1665.  Caleb’s Crossing is set at this time and told primarily from the perspective of Caleb’s good friend Bethia Mayfield.  

Both characters are hungry for knowledge but Caleb struggles with racism and Bethia struggles with sexism.  Bethia’s mother died when she was 12 and so she runs the household and while her father is quite liberal, arguing against the subjugation the local native Indians and tutoring Caleb, he sees books and learning as a purely male domain.  It is this struggle against the bounds imposed upon these characters by their culture and religion that dominates Caleb’s Crossing.

Caleb's Crossing is available as a Book Group Set at Maribyrnong Library.