Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2023
Set at the beginning of the twentieth century and inspired by historical events,This Other Eden tells the story of Apple Island: an enclave off the coast of the United States where waves of castaways - in flight from society and its judgment - have landed and built a home.
Benjamin Honey- American,Bantu,Igbo- born enslaved- freed or fled at fifteen- aspiring orchardist,arrived on the island with his Irish wife,Patience,and discovered they could make a life together there. More than a century later,the Honeys'descendants remain,with an eccentric,diverse band of neighbours. Then comes the intrusion of'civilization': officials determine to'cleanse'the island,and a missionary schoolteacher selects one light-skinned boy to save. The rest will succumb to the authorities'institutions or cast themselves on the waters in a new Noah's Ark.
Full of lyricism and power,Paul Harding's This Other Eden explores the hopes and dreams and resilience of those seen not to fit a world brutally intolerant of difference.
Publisher: CornerstoneISBN: 9781529152548Number of pages: 224Weight: 340 gDimensions: 218 x 144 x 24 mm
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'In boldly lyrical prose,This Other Eden shows us a once-thriving racial utopia in its final days,at a time when race and science were colliding in chilling ways. In the stories of the Apple Islanders - especially that of Ethan Honey,spared a destructive fate because of his artistic gifts and his fair skin - we are made to confront the ambiguous nature of mercy,the limits of tolerance,and what it means to truly be saved. A luminous,thought-provoking novel.'- Esi Edugyan,author of Washington Black
'Masterful... (This Other Eden) has much to say to our times.'- Guardian
'A testament of love... so real it could make you weep.'- Danez Smith,New York Times
'Harding invites comparisons with authors such as William Faulkner,Robinson and even Elizabeth Strout... This Other Eden... begs to be widely read.'- Spectator
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