Geraldine Brooks is the author of the novels People of the Book, March (winner of the Pulitzer Prize), and Year of Wonders, and the non-fiction works Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
Previously, Brooks was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bosnia, Somalia, and the Middle East. Born and raised in Australia, she divides her time between Sydney and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. She lives with her husband, the author Tony Horwitz, and their two sons, Nathaniel and Bizuayehu.
GERALDINE BROOKS WILL BE IN AUCKLAND 9-11 June 2011
In her latest novel, Caleb’s Crossing she once again takes a few arresting facts and weaves from them a tale of love, friendship, opportunity, sacrifice and adventure.
Caleb’s Crossing is inspired by the life of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College in 1665. Little is known about this remarkable young scholar and only a single letter — in Latin — has survived from his hand. Brooks’ novel fills the void in the history record through an informed imagining of his remarkable journey from a traditional Wampanoag life on Martha’s Vineyard, where he studied the classics alongside the sons of the American colonial elite.
‘The idea for this book grew out of a notation on a map of the island of Martha’s Vineyard, marking the birthplace of the first Native American graduate of Harvard,’ says Brooks. ‘I immediately thought of the 1960s civil rights era, and wondered if I might run into the guy at a farmer’s market one day. Then I learned that the graduation in question took place in the sixteen sixties, not the nineteen sixties. For the next few years I plumbed Harvard’s archives, visited archaeological digs and sat with Native Americans here on the Island, trying to learn as much as I could about the life of such a person in such a time and place.’
CALEB’S CROSSING
By Geraldine Brooks
NZ RRP $39.99
NZ RELEASE MAY 2011
FOURTH ESTATE AUSTRALIA
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