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Caleb’s Crossing: Doing the Research
Do you do the necessary research?
Geraldine Brooks‘ novel Caleb’s Crossing is a book unlike anything I’ve read in awhile. I enjoy historical fiction. There’s something magical about being transported to a different time and place and allowing oneself to get swept into the new world so completely for 400 pages.
However, when I read historical fiction, it’s usually set during the reign of the Tudors in England. I’m in love with that time period for some reason.
So, imagine my surprise when I pick up Caleb’s Crossing. The novel is set in colonial America. The American Revolution isn’t even really a thought yet, and our interactions with the Native Americans are sometimes strange and sometimes outright appalling.
What drew me into this novel about the New World? One of the main characters (and it says this on the inside flap) is the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College (now Harvard University). When I read that, I was instantly intrigued.
The narrator is a young girl named Bethia, and at first, I was sure this was going to be a novel about some crazy forbidden love between a colonial English girl and a Native American boy. But it wasn’t. In a sense, it’s a love story, but it’s a different kind of love–like a love between brother and sister. Anyhow, the story follows Bethia as she interacts with the Native American tribes in a way few people did. It shows the shift many Native Americans took in trying to assimilate to English culture and religion.
It’s interesting and, at times, exciting. But that’s not what impressed me about this book. As a writer, I’m constantly looking for ways I can improve. And the best way to do that is by reading, right?
Well, Brooks really impressed me by the amount of research that had to go into the making of this novel. She had the language down and was able to describe the clothes, houses, churches, transportation methods, and much more all in great detail.
“My thoughts run on apace, so disordered is my mind.”–Bethia
This should be standard for all historical fiction novels, right? True. But Brooks certainly did not cut corners with this one. I really felt like I could accurately picture what Martha’s Vineyard and Cambridge were like during that time.
The other thing that got me was how Brooks would use subtle techniques to keep the reader reading. I’ll be honest, at certain points I found myself getting bored with the book. I wasn’t sure where it was going and there wasn’t any apparent conflict yet. It was all about the characters and I wasn’t feeling invested.
Image of Harvard College Pre-Revolution
And then, Brooks starts a chapter with “I had not thought to take up this pen, having laid it down so long since. But my mind is afire and I feel I must make some relation of these past months and my present troublesome condition, far from home, in this unwholesome place.”
That immediately had me asking, what happened during those months? What troublesome condition? Where is she that she would call the place unwholesome? And instantly I was hooked again. I needed to know the answer to these questions.
I’m hesitant to call it a trick…so let’s call it a technique. It’s a clever technique to keep the reader reading.
Overall, I’d recommend Caleb’s Crossing to anyone who enjoys authentic historical fiction. It’s a smooth read with strong characters who are easy to get attached to.
If you’ve read it, let me know!
Have you read any books that use some clever techniques to keep you engaged?
Photo Credit: Goodreads and Early America
Jasmine Evans: Author 