Paul Harding (5) (1967–)

As soon as I heard about this historical novel, I knew I wanted to read it. I was quite taken with the story (based on fact) of a mixed race community living on a small island off the coast of Maine and what happened to them. The prose is beautiful and many Biblical themes are woven through the narrative. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, I realize. Some of the themes are depressingly familiar -- why must people of color never, ever be allowed to have agency and autonomy by the people of "the main", i.e., white men? Also, the Nazis got most of their racist notions from the good old US of A. The ending is not quite upbeat, but points in that direction, and there was a bit of mystery never truly explained.… (mere)

Shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize and the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction, Paul Harding's This Other Eden is historical fiction but not of the bodice-ripping variety. It's what I call Hidden History, and it tells the melancholy story of how a small community of the unwanted were evicted from Apple Island in Maine.

A novel of Hidden History, as I classify it here on the blog, is one that reveals an unacknowledged aspect of the historical record. For me, it gives an imagined voice to people who were silenced by oppression, illiteracy, racism, gender or class discrimination or lack of access to publishing opportunities. It gains its authenticity from oral history which corresponds to the other side of events documented in the written historical record. I respect authors who do this well, because creating an authentic-sounding voice without succumbing to anachronism or presentism is a tricky thing to pull off.

However, it's also important not to distort history, intentionally or otherwise.

And Harding does. To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/07/05/this-other-eden-2023-by-paul-harding/… (mere)

This is a true story of Malaga Island, an isolated island off the coast of Maine that became the first racially integrated towns in the Northeast. In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irishwife, Patience, discover an island where they can ,ale a life together. I’ver a century later, theHoneys’ descendants and a diverse group of neighbors are poor, isolated, and often hungry, but nevertheless protected from the hostility awaiting them on the mainland. In the summer of 1912, Matthew Diamond, a retired, idealistic but prejudiced schoolteacher turned missionary, disrupts the community’s fragile balance through his efforts to educate its children.… (mere)