CALEB'S CROSSING, by Gernaldine Brooks

Historical Fiction -- 5 stars



In 1660, English Puritan settlers share the island of Martha's Vineyard with Native Americans.  One of the settlers is Bethia Mayfield, young daughter of the English settlement's Calvinist church leader.  As a child, left to her own devices, she wanders the island in search of sustenance and adventure.  Her chance meeting with a young Indian boy begins a friendship that carries them both to adolescence and on to Cambridge where the boy, now known as Caleb, is admitted to Harvard. ----- Based on the true story of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard, this book exposes the prejudices and strict hierarchy of both the English and the Native American populations in early America.  Written in a style that evokes the period, and narrated by the fictional Bethia,  it is ultimately a story of triumph and devastating tragedy.