Book Review: This Other Eden by Paul Harding

 Rating: 4.25⭐️

*Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023*

The mixed-race community of Apple Island dated back to 1793 when Benjamin Honey, a Civil War veteran and formerly enslaved man settled on the island with his Irish wife Patience. Six generations later in 1911, their descendants have continued to live on the island and their community includes Esther Honey, great-granddaughter of Benjamin and Patience, her son and grandchildren and their neighbors - Theophilus and Candace Larks and their family born of incest, two sisters who are raising three Penobscot orphans, Civil War veteran Zachary Hand To God Proverbs who lived in a hollow oak tree and elderly Annie Parker who lived alone. Life on the island was not particularly easy but the residents survived in their cocoon of tolerance and community. The arrival of racist missionary/retired schoolteacher Matthew Diamond on the island and his efforts to impart education to the children directs public attention to the island. His intention to “save” an artistically inclined teenager he believes can pass for White triggers a shocking series of events that ultimately leads to the eviction of the residents from the only home they had ever known in 1912. Branded paupers, squatters, imbeciles, and much worse and subject to humiliating treatment and much indignity, they are forced off the island, and several of them are institutionalized while others are left to fend for themselves.

Inspired by the true story of the inhabitants of Malaga Island off the coast of Maine, author Paul Harding packs a lot into This Other Eden. The prose is simple yet elegant and lyrical and the narrative is fluid. With vivid imagery, Harding transports us to Apple Island where we meet each of the residents and get to know their backstories – some in more detail than others. Esther’s story of the hurricane of 1815 that wreaked havoc on the lives of the Honey family is exquisitely penned. The author shed light on a shameful episode from history, the growing popularity of the study and practice of eugenics, intolerance, racism and much more.

This was the first time I heard of the history of Malaga Island and despite the relatively short length of the novel, I found this novel to be an informative, heart-wrenching and emotionally impactful read.