Mississipppi's secrets

Being born and raised in New York, the story The Help by Kathryn Stockett was a bit foreign to me.  It's not that I am not aware of the history and stories I heard about the south, it's just that I never experienced the things the people in this book experienced.  The Help is set in 1962, Jackson Mississippi and it's an extraordinary story surrounding Abilene and Minny who are maids and Skeeter, a white woman writer who befriends these ladies.  Skeeter is also looking for her nanny Constantine, who mysteriously disappeared.  Her mother never tells her what really happened to Constantine.  Skeeter decides to write a book about the Help with assistance from Abilene and Minny and they get the other maids to tell their stories.  The Help was an eye opening fun book.  I can't wait to see the movie.  I highly recommend reading this exceptionally written book.

A First for a Native American

Geraldine Brooks has done it again with Caleb's Crossing.  She is a dynamic writer and researcher.  Her historical fiction stories make you ache for more.  This time she goes from 1660 to 1715 at Martha's Vineyard and Harvard College.  A twelve year old girl, Bethia Mayfield and a Native American Indian named Caleb meet in her homeland of Great Harbor which houses a small band of English Puritans. They forge a forbidden friendship and teach each other the ways of their people to each other.  When tragedy strikes both families, Caleb and Bethia are sent away to school together.  Bethia, to clean and care for the boys at Cambridge and Harvard and to pay the way for her brother to get a free education.  Caleb who was tutored by Bethia's father attends Harvard with the colonial elite studying Latin and Greek.  Both characters struggle to get their voices heard during this period of time.  Women are not supposed to get formal educational training and Native Americans have to fight and accept christian culture and prejudice in order to gain a proper education for their future and their people. The outcome of these two characters and the people around them will have you thinking about them and their circumstances and our sordid past for years to cone. Caleb's Crossing is a reminder of our past and how history unfortunately repeats itself.