Caleb's crossing

306 pages

English language

Published Nov. 19, 2011 by Viking.

ISBN:
9780670021048
OCLC Number:
679930983

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Once again, the author 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, she has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure. The narrator of the story 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 twelve, 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, …

11 editions

Subjects

  • Indian college graduates
  • Wampanoag Indians
  • Indian scholars
  • Fiction

Places

  • Martha's Vineyard
  • United States
  • Massachusetts