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. Beginning
with a hurricane flood reminiscent of the story of Noah's Ark, the novel
ends with yet another Ark.
In prose of breathtaking beauty and power, Paul Harding brings to life
an unforgettable cast of characters: Iris and Violet McDermott, sisters
raising three orphaned Penobscot children; Theophilus and Candace Larks
and their brood of vagabond children; the prophetic Zachary Hand to God
Proverbs, a Civil War veteran who lives in a hollow tree; and more. A
spellbinding story of resistance and survival, This Other Eden is an
enduring testament to the struggle to preserve human dignity in the face
of intolerance and injustice.
