Book Club to Discuss “Caleb’s Crossing,” by Geraldine Brooks, June 11

Based on a true story, this novel came about when its author, Pulitzer winner Geraldine Brooks, moved to Martha’s Vineyard in 2006 and ran across a map marking the birthplace of Caleb, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College, in 1665. Brooks offers a compelling answer to the riddle of how — in an era that considered him an intellectually impaired savage — he left the island to compete with the sons of the Puritan elite. The story is told through the voice of Bethia, a Puritan girl who befriends him.

Said Jane Smiley in The New York Times Sunday Book Review: “Caleb’s Crossing could not be more enlightening and involving. Beautifully written from beginning to end, it reconfirms Geraldine Brooks’s reputation as one of our most supple and insightful ­novelists.”

Caleb’s Crossing will be discussed at the Book Club’s last meeting before the summer break, on Thursday, June 11 at 7:30 p.m.