Why would I read and write about Caleb’s Crossing, a historical novel set on the east coast of seventeenth-century North America, when my primary fiction interest is Renaissance Europe?

Thanks to recent research discoveries about my family’s ancestors, I learned that one of my 10^th great-grandfathers arrived in America 15 years after the Mayflower landed (in 1620). Although many of this novel’s characters spring from the author’s imagination, her deeply-researched portrayal of the era’s physical, political and religious background helps me understand the context of my ancestors’ lives.

Why should you read this historical novel that came out over a decade ago?

• The story is engaging, yet complicated
• You’ll find out about living conditions faced by early English settlers
• You’ll observe the complex relationships between English settlers and Native Americans
• You’ll learn about the beliefs of the Puritans, settlers who dissented from them, and the Native Americans in the region
• You’ll get a unique view of the mixed early history of Harvard College (now University)

Author Geraldine Brooks traces two major threads in Caleb’s Crossing:

1. The impact of English settlers on the Native Americans in the regions where they co-existed.

Brooks writes that Caleb, the title character, was the Native American historical figure who inspired this novel. According to historical records, he and Joel Iacoomis were the first Native Americans to complete their undergraduate degrees at Harvard (in 1665).

In the final pages, Bethia wonders if Caleb would have been better off if she hadn’t accepted his friendship and eventually gone to Harvard.

2. The life story and choices of Bethia, the young female protagonist.

Early in the story, she writes about her mother’s death in childbirth, but then says “I killed my mother.”

Throughout the novel, the author explores why Bethia believes that statement, as well as the interplay between the transplanted English culture she lived in and her contacts with Native Americans, and how both shaped her beliefs and actions.

Major Characters:

Note: all but Caleb and Joel are fictitious, although some are modeled after historical figures

• Caleb—sympathetic male protagonist, member of Wampanoag tribe of Noepe (Martha’s Vineyard) who meets Bethia by chance and befriends her
• Bethia Mayfield—female protagonist, she’s the quick-witted daughter of immigrants whose father is a missionary to Native Americans and the minister of the English church in Great Harbor
• Makepeace—Bethia’s older brother, less intellectually gifted than she is
• Joel Iacoomis—brilliant son of the first Wampanoag convert to Christianity
• Samuel Corlett—fellow at Harvard who tutors young scholars; he meets Bethia when she works for his father, Master Corlett, a preparatory school instructor
• Anne—young Nipmuc Native American girl, she comes to the preparatory school because of her gift for learning

Strengths:

This novel is extremely well-researched; the characters are memorable, and the plot contains many twists that hold readers’ interest.

Weakness:

A few plot points didn’t seem credible to me, especially as regards Bethia’s openness to Native American culture.

Content review:

This novel contains mentions of off-stage violence and discussions of sexual intimacy.

My Recommendation:

If you’d like to learn more about Native Americans’ interactions with the first English settlers they encountered, or perhaps have an interest in 17^th-century U.S. history, Caleb’s Crossing is an entertaining way to absorb that information, with the caveat that the author used her imagination to create the characters’ personalities and actions.

Reader, can you recommend other novels about colonial North America?