Caleb’s Crossing

Recommended by Sean Kelly, Teresa G. and Ferdinand F. Martignetti Professor of Philosophy, FAS

“Caleb’s Crossing” is an engrossing novel about mid-17th century New England written by the fabulous contemporary author Geraldine Brooks. It starts with the story of the friendship between a Native American boy and a Puritan girl growing up near each other on Martha’s Vineyard. The boy turns out to be Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College, back in 1665. The novel follows Caleb and his fictional friend Bethia Mayfield to Harvard, where there are many interesting observations about the so-called Indian College, then in Harvard Yard, and lots of well-researched detail about school life at Harvard in the 1660s. It’s a genuinely moving story of the friendship between two people who were so different and yet who shared so much.