3.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this audiobook 

"Terrible how good intentions turn out terribly every time"

In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife, Patience, discover an island where they can make a life together. Over a century later, the Honeys' descendants and a diverse group of neighbors are desperately poor, isolated, and often hungry, but nevertheless protected from the hostility awaiting them on the mainland.

During the tumultuous 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. His presence attracts the attention of authorities on the mainland who, under the influence of the eugenics-thinking popular among progressives of the day, decide to forcibly evacuate the island, institutionalize its residents, and develop the island as a vacation destination.

A story of what happens when people make decisions on what they think is best for others based on bias. I enjoyed the historical context of this book in particular the eugenics movement at the time. I struggled with the writing style, finding it lyrical but without reason too often through the book. I found the story built and I enjoyed it more over time. Worth the read if you haven't had much exposure to this part of history.

This book was atmospheric in its contents, creating the world using heavily descriptive sentences. While reading the first half of the novel, the descriptive devices truly made you feel the oppression of poverty faces with the main characters and the families residing on the island. We learn later throughout the novel what it means to not be "purely white" and the way they viewed, despite the islanders residing on Apple Island for multiple generations while somehow surviving tragedy, storms, starvation, and lack of supplies.

What made this novel stand out was the journaled references to art and documents to that time prior to relocation of settlers, and how these references hardly captured the truth behind their stories.

Although the story and characters are fictional, the events that take place are non fictional, so this provides insight to lives and experiences through a new lens.

This was a slower read, not so heavily plot-based or character driven, but more so written to experience what life could have been like for the families living on Apple Island. The descriptiveness both helped and hindered the novel at times, making a certain scene feel drawn out, but overall set the tone of the environment.

I read this novel as an audiobook.
An excellent narrator! I really enjoyed listening to him narrating the novel which impressed me with the way the author deals with topics such as racism, religion (very interesting!) , identity. The characters are finely drawn in their complexity. Just a shame the book is so short (a bit over 200 pages)!
I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook from NetGalley, and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.

It is difficult to know what to say about this one. The lyrical, beautiful writing tells a heartbreaking story that leaves the reader wrestling with important topics. Harding has taken the true story of Malaga Island and given us an imagining of what could be it's history. He has developed a diverse cast of characters and portrayed an honest and difficult picture of what life might have looked like on that island. The story of Apple Island is a story of family, freedom and the tragedies that occur when an outsider believes they know better what life should look like. My thoughts are not as coherent as I would like them to be, so I may return to edit this review once I sort them out a bit.

The story of Apple Island begins in 1792 with Benjamin and Patience Honey. A century later, 6 generations of Honeys have been born on the island and the islanders are content to live and survive the way they have for the last 100 years. Harding does not shy away from the realities of poverty in this era - describing the lice and bedbugs, the extreme weather, and the inbreeding in appropriate detail. He also does not shy away from the realities of the injustice done to these people or the prejudice shown by even the supposedly "upright" and "well meaning".

The juxtaposition of the poverty of the islanders and affluence and education of Matthew Diamond forces the reader the question the meaning of charity and to examine acts of supposed charity, especially those with disastrous outcomes, even if those involved were as well intended as they claimed. I wanted to fight with and for these people. I wanted them to have their home and be accepted without having to change. I also found myself wanting to offer them some of the same aid offered by others in the story and thinking in the back of my head that I could've found a way to help with a better outcome, which is an instinct I think the author intends for readers to question.

**Minor spoilers below***
I kept expecting someone to be an exception to the atrocious racism described in this story. No one ever was. I expected some sort of heartwarming moment of acceptance from a white character, it never came. It's heartbreaking to realize this was the reality for so many lives. It broke my heart to experience, from Bridget's POV, her realization that Ethan was "colored". I wanted so desperately for it not to matter to her, and by the end, maybe it didn't, but not soon enough.

This is a story I will ponder for a long time to come.

The audiobook was well narrated and a fascinating listen, I do wish that there was a way to view the images included in the story as there seemed to be photo descriptions.

Thank you to Netgalley and Recorded books for the advanced listener copy.

I'll be honest, in the world in which we currently live, I tend to choose books for distraction and popcorn pleasure. Books that entertain me and make the retirement days pass. This Other Eden is not that kind of book. It is historical fiction that tells the story of formerly enslaved people, the lives they created which satisfied them, and the struggle they faced when outside influence decided to intervene. It is not a book for pleasure. It did not hit my joy button, but, ironically, in the world in which we currently live, perhaps this is the exact kind of book each of us needs to add to our lists.

The writing was delicious. Paul Harding clearly knows how to use words, and as an audio book, Edoardo Ballerini narrated this one perfectly. A bit of an accent, but not one which overwhelmed the brain.

The greatest praise I can give a new, to me, author, is I will now be looking at Harding's previous works.

THE OTHER EDEN by Paul Harding
Harding won the Pulitzer in a shocker for his novel TINKERS. I was not the biggest fan of it but decided to give Harding another try with his new book. The novel takes place in the early years of the 20th century on Apple Island, a recluse community of former slaves and other outcasts, both Black and white, living harmoniously in interracial families, absent the ideas of racial hierarchy and prejudice that infected mainland America. When government officials learn of the community they seek to remove its inhabitants “for their own good”, motivated by eugenic ideas that dominated the times.
Harding’s prose is lush and tender, he delves less into the bigger expressions of the themes of race, instead exploring the personal and intimate experiences of the island folk that the inevitable tragic and violent events will interrupt.
A wonderful novel, will certainly be one of the better of the year.
Thanks to @netgalley and RBMedia for the advanced audio copy.

I feel like This Other Eden would have benefitted from keeping the story but changing the writing style a bit. I didn't enjoy the paragraph long sentences and it was hard to follow at times. I did enjoy the exploration of the characters, and the commentary on Eugenics.

As a Maine native, I was eager to read more about Malaga Island, a subject that was not and is still not being taught in an Maine history courses. Malaga Island was the place former slave Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife Patience decided to make their home in 1792, a place where they would be far from the prejudice on the mainland. The family and its descendants lived peacefully, if not terribly well until 1912 when a teacher/missionary decided it was his duty to educate the children of Malaga Island. In doing so, he brought the attention of authorities on the mainland to bear on this island of mixed race people. It’s decided that the people on Malaga are immoral, insane or worse and the island is cleared off its residents who are then institutionalized. Malaga Island was then to be turned into a vacation destination, where it would bring in large amounts for state coffers. This is a very dark side to Maine’s history and Harding tells it masterfully. I was shocked and saddened to read the details of this tragic story

‘This Other Eden’ by Paul Harding, ticks all of my buzzwords when it comes to historical fiction; it’s set on a remote island with a close knit community, it has themes of otherness, as well as race, humanity, and shows the ways outside perception attempts to remove the meaning in — and of — the lives of those they’ve come to “save”. There is biblical imagery, specifically in terms of “the flood” but also mention of Ovid’s work and Shakespeare. Something Paul Harding does and something I’ve loved in other author’s works (Maggie O’Farrell) is to add known historical fact to the narrative. It adds a level of realism that makes the unfolding all the more impactful. Additionally, Harding’s writing is beautiful. He has a kind of sweeping style that often uses simple language that builds in a way that paints a moment in layers. I found myself so moved.

Of the islanders I was most invested in Esther, one of the oldest living residents of the island, and her grandson, Ethan. Esther has a complicated and violent history, she loves Shakespeare and is intelligent and wise. She’s seen so much, too much, of life and the people who inhabit it, and she has a steadfast spirit that makes her feel powerful, no matter what befalls the islanders. Ethan is fascinating, as well. He’s a painter and the scenes that described his painting or the way he viewed people, plants and animals, was lovely. He is sent away, off the island, to the mainland as what is described as an opportunity… but is that possible?

The people on the island descended from a Black man and an Irish woman. And the community has suffered inbreeding and poverty. All of the people look different. Some look “nearly white” while others seem “drained of color”, others are in a spectrum of brown skin tones. Outsiders are repulsed by what they see as less-than human. Even the school teacher is rattled by his own revulsion. And yet he finds them to be intelligent, interesting, eager, loving, kind, hard working. But seeing their value is not enough to eradicate his fear and bias. So often the perceptions of these “saviors” (as they think of themselves) is rooted not necessarily in hatred, but rather a very real fear. And this fear is more dangerous than anything.

I was lucky enough to read this arc physically, but to ALSO experience the audiobook, via NetGalley and RB Media (Recorded Books). It is narrated by Eduardo Ballerini, a talented actor, who lends that talent to this storytelling in a way that was, quite frankly, perfect. He really takes the storytelling up a notch and has a subtlety that comes across, beautifully. I loved listening to him.

This book is sad, to put it simply. But it’s also tender and has a grounded warmth. Knowing these characters meant something to me, and I think so many people will feel the same. I’m so grateful to have read this wonderful novel, and discovered Paul Harding’s immense, empathetic talent.

+ Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the audiobook arc of this novel.

4.5 Stars

In his newest work, Pulitzer Prize-winning Paul Harding uses his pen like a paintbrush. This Other Eden is about an ugly, shameful piece of New England history, but painted in such beautiful and artful prose.

In 1911, the first ever Eugenics Council met in London, and soon its hateful messaging spread to the across the Atlantic. The Maine Board of Health wants to evict the population of Malaga Island (in the novel referred to as Apple Island) for being "squatters," despite the fact that the families have been there for up to six generations. The reasoning is that they are "mixed breeds," something the powers that be are convinced leads to madness, filth, and over sexualization.

In 1912, all buildings must be completely demolished or burned, and no one is allowed to remain. These harsh and angry actions are being committed against the people, but Harding crafts such delicate and tender descriptions of the interactions between the families and of the land itself. It is a powerful dichotomy in a rich novel.

A tragic recounting of the forced resettlement of Malaga Island off the coast of Maine. A light read this is not, as This Other Eden delves into the lives of the remaining settlers on the island before the state removes them. Descended from a fishing community that arrived almost a century before, the diverse settlers of this mixed-race population has everything they need within their small community including a school, but this is also the era of burgeoning acceptance of eugenics and a community descended from a former slave and a white Irish woman are a prime target, especially with the (very unfortunate) proliferation of in-breeding on the island.

We also get the offshoot story of Ethan Honey, a precocious painter on the island who is taken to the mainland to live and pursue his art with a rich white family. This section provides a deep dive into identity even though it, ultimately, will lead to further sadness.

I found the writing in this to just not be tolerable. I didn't finish it.

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