Despite being in quarantine and stuck
in bed a couple of weeks ago, being sick did give me the chance to read my
holiday book. ‘Caleb’s Crossing’, by Geraldine Brooks, has been languishing on
my bedside table since I bought it on my birthday in February. But not anymore!
The story is a fictional historical
drama based on the factual details surrounding the circumstances of the first
Native American to graduate from Harvard University in the 1600’s. It is told
through the eyes of the main character, Bethia, an ‘English’ girl, daughter of
a Martha’s Vineyard minister whose main aim was to convert the Indians to
Christianity.
Bethia is strong, intelligent and
resourceful girl in a God fearing, strictly religious colonial community. She
struggles to fit the accepted role deemed to be appropriate for women of the
day and is conflicted with the contradictions she sees in her society.
It does seem that I have a
penchant for historical drama at the moment because another recent read of mine,
another birthday buy, was ‘Sarah Thornhill’, a sequel novel by Australian
author Kate Grenville. I love Grenville’s writing; she uses language in a
beautiful way and has a talent for evoking the Australian landscape. Her
character, Sarah, is like Bethia, struggling with her allotted role in life on
the edge of wilderness. Sarah, too, has encounters with the indigenous people
of the area in which she lives, although her story is influenced by the
underlying tragedy of the first book, ‘The Secret River’.
Both these books are brilliant
reads and I recommend them wholeheartedly. Both have themes which ask some
questions that most readers would find uncomfortable, and not just those in
Australia. And both are written by Australians. Brooks is a now a resident of
Martha’s Vineyard.
So, now what am I going to read?
Post holiday Edit: Lack of choice at our holiday destination led me to buy “The
Slap” by another Australian, Christos Tsiolkas, and I have just finished the
first ‘section’. I normally don’t like to buy the book after I have watched the
movie/series, but in this case I was interested to see how the author initially
developed the very unsettling themes. And it is good!
