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This Other Eden

This Other Eden

Historical FictionLiterary Fiction
Pages
226
Published
2023
Language
English

Synopsis

Inspired by the real history of Malaga Island, Maine, this novel follows the mixed-race descendants of a formerly enslaved man and his Irish wife, whose island refuge for generations of outcasts is threatened when state authorities move to evict its residents. A Booker Prize and National Book Award finalist from the Pulitzer-winning author of Tinkers.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

MelancholicThought-ProvokingAtmospheric
Family Saga

Genres

Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Small-Town Romance

About the author

P
Paul Harding (novelist)

Paul Harding (born February 28, 1967) is an American novelist from Wenham, Massachusetts. He is the author of Tinkers (2009), which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; Enon (2013), a follow-up centered on a descendant of the Tinkers family; and This Other Eden (2023), a finalist for the Booker Prize and National Book Award inspired by the history of Malaga Island, Maine. He holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and teaches creative writing at Emerson College.

Characters

Benjamin HoneySupporting

A formerly enslaved man who settles the island with his Irish wife, founding the community generations later evicted.

Matthew DiamondSupporting

An idealistic schoolteacher whose reports on the island's conditions trigger the state's forced evacuation.

All characters in This Other Eden