They all graduate, although Caleb dies not long after from illness. Bethia goes to Cambridge to live as an indentured servant (her only means to survive as a young, single woman) for one of the boy's tutors. When the preacher tragically drowns, the boys all decide to apply to college and are accepted. He actually comes to live in Bethia's house to study under her father, the preacher, along with some other young men of the community. After he gets into some hot water with his tribe, Caleb is sent by his father to take refuge with the Puritans as a student. She struggles with the rigid demands of her elders upon her as a girl and chooses rebellion, going so far as striking up a friendship with a Native she meets in the forest one day. Bethia came with her family to settle in the New World.

The story is set in New England during its original founding by the Puritans. Doubtless she expressed some of the same frustrations with the patriarchy as her fictional protagonist Bethia.

Geraldine Brooks imbues Caleb's Crossing with a sense of intimacy which could only be autobiographical. Written by Mary Feagley and other people who wish to remain anonymous We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. With Harvard expected to graduate a second Martha's Vineyard Wampanoag Indian this year, almost three and a half centuries after Caleb, the novel's publication is particularly timely.These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. Bethia tags along and her descriptions of 17th-century Cambridge and Harvard are as entertaining as they are enlightening (Harvard was founded by Puritans to educate the 'English and Indian youth of this country,' for instance). Caleb is a gifted scholar who eventually travels, along with Bethia's brother, to Cambridge to continue his education. Since Bethia isn't allowed to pursue education herself, she eavesdrops on Caleb's and her own brother's lessons. After Caleb loses most of his family to smallpox, he begins to study under the tutelage of Bethia's father. While exploring the island now known as Martha's Vineyard, Bethia meets Caleb, a Wampanoag native to the island, and they become close, clandestine friends.

Brooks brings the 1660s to life with evocative period detail, intriguing characters, and a compelling story narrated by Bethia Mayfield, the outspoken daughter of a Calvinist preacher. Pulitzer Prize%E2%80%93winner Brooks (for March) delivers a splendid historical inspired by Caleb Cheeshahteaumauck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard.

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks