A wonderful book! I was completely taken in by the story and setting, the mid-1600s on an island off Cape Cod and Cambridge Massachusetts. The main character, Bethia, is a ferociously intelligent girl who hungers for knowledge in an age when females were denied the right to exercise their brains. How Bethia finds a way to pursue not just learning but wisdom is a wonderful journey. I listened to the audiobook, and must say that the reader's voice was a but too nasal and fussy sounding to my ears. Nevertheless I was still swept up in the story which will stay with me for a long time.

We become privy to an exceptional historical glimpse into 1665 and the inaugural formative years of the Harvard University. In particular an early attempt at native integration with government sponsor to drive the savage from the Indian, and assimilate him into educated contemporary life. The focus is on Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University. Harvard’s first constructed brick building was assigned as an ‘Indian House’ where the attending First Nations were lodged and attended to study. Naturally this historical narrative is rife with oppression and prejudice however more significant were the gains and abilities of some of these attendees against all odds. This is really the meat of the novel as well as a few of the tragedies inherent in the story. There were four Native students who officially occupied the Native house. Out of these four, one of them, Eleazar, died before graduating. The second, Iacoombs, also died in a Mariners shipwreck while on the way back to Harvard just two months before graduating. John Wampus left the school to become a Mariner and only Caleb graduated throughout the whole existence of the experimental ‘Indian House’ endeavor. Caleb died of Tuberculosis, known as ‘consumption’ in those days, less than a year after graduation. All historically interesting stuff but in the last half I just couldn’t keep my eyes open long enough to make it go away. It got real boring real quick and I was perpetually near the end on a daily basis, falling down a bottomless pit craving to stop this carnage. Beware my friends. By John Archibald, October, 2012

I jumped at reading this book as at least one of her novels is among my favorites (The Year of Wonders) This book took me a while to get into and relate to. As I got to know the characters and understand what time in history and where they were in the world I got pulled in. Like many of her stories there are no nice neat happy endings. Lots of sadness but a good story that eventually was hard to put down as I wanted to know what would happen.

An interesting juxtaposition between Bethia's constraints as a woman in the 1600's, and the prejudice that Caleb confronts as a native American.