Brooks, Geraldine "Caleb's Crossing" - 2011

Brooks, Geraldine "Caleb's Crossing" - 2011

In our local book club, we always bring a book we just read and loved and then decide which one the group will read. This time, I had brought "People of the Book" because it is my favourite book of the year. But someone else had brought this one and we thought it funny that we both had chosen the same author.

So, we decided to read "Caleb's Crossing". The story takes place at Martha's Vinyard and Harvard College. It tells about the life of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk was born around 1646 and he learned English and Latin and all the other subject he needed to graduate.

The author explains that her book is based on the life of Caleb and that the stories about the Wampanoag and the island are true but that the rest is fiction. Still, we can very well believe how life must have been for a young English girl at the time. And there is also a lot of documentation about the life of the Native Americans to make the story plausible.

I love historical fiction and this is a wonderful example of how you can describe life in a past century through both real and fictional characters. This was only my fourth book by Geraldine Brooks, I need to read more.

The other readers also really liked the book and the author. We would like to read "Year of Wonders", her first book.

From the back cover:

"Bethia Mayfield is a restless and curious young woman growing up in Martha's vineyard in the 1660s amid a small band of pioneering English Puritans. At age twelve, she meets Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a secret bond that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's father is a Calvinist minister who seeks to convert the native Wampanoag, and Caleb becomes a prize in the contest between old ways and new, eventually becoming the first Native American graduate of Harvard College. Inspired by a true story and narrated by the irresistible Bethia, Caleb’s Crossing brilliantly captures the triumphs and turmoil of two brave, openhearted spirits who risk everything in a search for knowledge at a time of superstition and ignorance."

Droste-Hülshoff, Annette von "The Jew's Beech"

Droste-Hülshoff, Annette von "The Jew's Beech" (German: Die Judenbuche) - 1842

Annette von Droste-Hülshoff is probably to Germany what Jane Austen is to Great Britain, the most famous female author of the 19th century. She is mostly known for her poetry but has also written a few novellas and short story. She used to be on the 20 DM bill in Germany once, just to show how important she is.

The novel is an easy read, it's short and read by students of the 8th or 9th grade in Germany. It is based on the true story of a murder, actually two murders but both the story before as well as after the act are fictional. An intriguing account, not just about the crime itself but also about life in Germany or Middle Europe at the time which we can compare to life in other countries at the time as well as life today.

The language is as can be expected by a poet, very poetical. There is symbolism in the tale and a lot of wisdom.

This is a good read for someone interested in classic and international literature.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Based on a true story, this haunting tale centers on two brutal murders, the first of a local forester and the second of a Jewish moneylender near a beech tree, and the impact these events have on the life of Friedrich Mergel, a herdsman with a turbulent family history. A prototype of the murder mystery and a thoughtful examination of village society, this intriguing novella contains hints of the Gothic and the uncanny, including ominous thunderstorms, mysterious disappearances, eerie doppelgangers and grizzly discoveries, as well as a famously ambiguous climax."

If you read German and are interested in the author's life, I recommend "Das Spiegelbild" [The Mirror Image] by Irina Korschunow.

Noa Bercovitch, Pascale "The Dolphin’s Boy"

Noa Bercovitch, Pascale "The Dolphin’s Boy: A Story of Courage and Friendship" (French: Oline, le dauphin du miracle) - 2000

Bercovitch was an athlete who had a terrible accident on a train and subsequently had to have her legs amputated. This didn't interfere with her plan to go to Israel, she still went and became not just a successful journalist and filmmaker but also participated in the Paralympics.

In her partly autobiographical book, she tells us about the Bedouin boy Abdullah who fell out of a tree at the age of five and was deaf ever since. He grew up keeping to himself and loved to spend his time swimming. At one of his excursions, he met a dolphin who wouldn't leave his side any more. The author made a film about this extraordinary friendship between the boy and the dolphin and later wrote this book about them. A wonderful story.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"The incredible story of how a dolphin radically transformed the life of a young deaf man. 'A fairy tale for the ecological age.' Daily Mail 

Abid'allah, a Bedouin boy, was left completely deaf after falling out of a tree at the age of five. Growing up, he was a loner, who spent much of his time swimming in the crystal waters of the Red Sea. One day a dolphin joined him - and from then on never left his side. This was remarkable, for dolphins usually prefer to live in groups, communicating in their own sound language. But this one seemed never to make a noise, and was also evidently a loner.... The first word Abid'allah was to speak was 'olin' - the word 'dolphin' being the same in his own dialect as it is in English - and this became the name of his dolphin friend, who had given him confidence, love and respect which encouraged him to speak again. When Olin is in danger, Abid'allah is swift to protect her, if other dolphins are caught in a fishing net, Olin seeks Abid'allah help. Their story has attracted scientists, film crews and journalists from around the world, but this is the first book to explore this remarkable friendship."

Brooks, Geraldine "March"

Brooks, Geraldine "March. A Love Story in a Time of War" - 2006

Who hasn't read "Little Women" and wouldn't mind reading more about the March family. Well, here's your chance.

I am not a big fan of any "sequels" written by other people than the author him/herself, especially not decades or even centuries later. However, Geraldine Brooks is an exception, she writes her novels more like biographies. As in this case. The protagonist of her story is John March, the father of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, Marmee's beloved husband. A lot of his work is told in the background in "Little Women", here we can see the man himself, his ideals, his politics, he was an abolitionist as well as an advocate for women's rights, a dreamer of a better world. As Louisa May Alcott has really told the story of her family, this is the story of her father, Amos Bronson Alcott. He was quite a remarkable man, way ahead of his time and his story is worth reading.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the war, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. Riveting and elegant as it is meticulously researched, March is an extraordinary novel woven out of the lore of American history.

From Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in mean times. To evoke him, Brooks turned to the journals and letters of Bronson Alcott, Louisa May’s father - a friend and confidant of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In her telling, March emerges as an idealistic chaplain in the little known backwaters of a war that will test his faith in himself and in the Union cause as he learns that his side, too, is capable of acts of barbarism and racism. As he recovers from a near mortal illness, he must reassemble his shattered mind and body and find a way to reconnect with a wife and daughters who have no idea of the ordeals he has been through.

Spanning the vibrant intellectual world of Concord and the sensuous antebellum South, March adds adult resonance to Alcott’s optimistic children’s tale to portray the moral complexity of war, and a marriage tested by the demands of extreme idealism - and by a dangerous and illicit attraction. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks’s place as an internationally renowned author of historical fiction."

Geraldine Brooks received the Pulitzer Prize for "March" in 2006.

Levi, Primo "If Not Now, When?"

Levi, Primo "If Not Now, When?" (Italian: Se non ora, quando?) - 1982

Primo Levi lived during the most part of the 20th century. He was Italian, he was Jewish, he was a chemist, and he wrote a couple of books. This one is about two Russian Jews who join a band of partisans behind enemy lines.

The books is based on a true story. I must say I loved it. The language was great, the story interesting, the people well described. An action-filled story that also brings up a lot of questions about war. Good read, a good basis for interesting discussions.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Primo Levi was among the greatest witnesses to twentieth-century atrocity. In this gripping novel, based on a true story, he reveals the extraordinary lives of the Russian, Polish and Jewish partisans trapped behind enemy lines during the Second World War. Wracked by fear, hunger and fierce rivalries, they link up, fall apart, struggle to stay alive and to sabotage the efforts of the all-powerful German army. A compelling tale of action, resistance and epic adventure, it also reveals Levi's characteristic compassion and deep insight into the moral dilemmas of total war. It ranks alongside 'The Period Table' and 'If this is a man' as one of the rare authentic masterpieces of our times."

O'Dell, Scott "Zia"

O'Dell, Scott "Zia" - 1976

A sequel to "Island of the Blue Dolphins". Zia is Karana's niece who wants to find her aunt who ended up on a deserted island. This is not the same as the first novel, mainly because Zia's life is described in the mission and not on the island. However, a good read, a must if you read the first novel.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"A young Indian girl, caught between the traditional world of her mother and the present world of the mission, is helped by her Aunt Karana, whose story was told in Island of the Blue Dolphins."

O'Dell, Scott "Island of the Blue Dolphins"

O'Dell, Scott "Island of the Blue Dolphins" - 1960

"Scott O'Dell won the Newbery Medal for Island of the Blue Dolphins in 1961, and in 1976 the Children's Literature Association named this riveting story one of the 10 best American children's books of the past 200 years."

The Native American girl Karana ends up on a deserted island where she spends eighteen years alone. The story tells about her life, her struggles to survive.

While I probably wouldn't call this one of the best children's books ever, I really liked this story when I read it as a girl. I read it later on with my boys and still thought it was a wonderful book. I later on read the sequel "Zia" which is interesting to read as a follow-up.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"Twelve-year-old Karana escapes death at the hands of treacherous hunters, only to find herself totally alone on a harsh desolate island. How she survives in the face of all sorts of dangers makes gripping and inspiring reading. Based on a true story."

Green, Hannah "I Never Promised you a Rose Garden"

Green, Hannah (Joanne Greenberg) "I Never Promised you a Rose Garden" 1964

Joanne Greenberg wrote this semi-autobiographical novel under the pen name Hannah Green.

What a fascinating book. A teenager suffering from schizophrenia. What is going on inside such a person?

Hannah Green tries to explain this mental illness through the view of different people, first of all the sufferer herself, her time before, in and after the hospital, her parents, family, friends, doctors, therapists.

I think this book is helpful to anybody who wants to understand mental illness and what it can do to everybody involved.

From the back cover:

"Enveloped in the dark inner kingdom of her schizophrenia, sixteen-year-old Deborah is haunted by private tormentors that isolate her from the outside world. With the reluctant and fearful consent of her parents, she enters a mental hospital where she will spend the next three years battling to regain her sanity with the help of a gifted psychiatrist. As Deborah struggles toward the possibility of the “normal” life she and her family hope for, the reader is inexorably drawn into her private suffering and deep determination to confront her demons. A modern classic, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden remains every bit as poignant, gripping, and relevant today as when it was first published."