This Other Eden by Paul Harding is a lyrical and at times desturbing historical novel inspired by the real-life expulsion of a mixed-race island community from Malaga Island, Maine, in 1912. The 2023 novel blends historical fact with imaginative storytelling, the novel explores themes of belonging, prejudice, family, and the enduring power of memory.
For generations, the Honey family and other residents have lived on Apple Island, a small, isolated community off the coast of Maine. Their ancestors include formerly enslaved people, European settlers, and Native Americans, creating a diverse and tightly knit population that exists largely apart from mainland society. Life on the island is difficult, but the residents have built a self-sustaining world rooted in cooperation, tradition, and a profound connection to the land and sea.
At the center of the story is Benjamin Honey, the island’s elderly patriarch, whose family traces its origins to an escaped slave who settled on the island decades earlier. Benjamin and his descendants struggle to preserve their way of life as outside forces increasingly view the community with suspicion and hostility. To many mainland residents, the islanders’ racial diversity and poverty make them targets of prejudice. Reformers, politicians, and self-appointed social guardians begin to portray Apple Island as a place of moral and social failure.
As the Progressive Era’s fascination with eugenics spreads across America, the island becomes the focus of government scrutiny. Officials claim they are acting in the public interest, but their actions are driven by racism, class bias, and a desire to erase a community that does not fit their vision of society. The islanders face mounting pressure, culminating in a campaign to remove them from their homes and scatter them across the mainland.
Throughout the novel, Harding gives voice to many members of the community, revealing their hopes, fears, loves, and losses. He also introduces outsiders whose encounters with the island challenge their assumptions and complicate the narrative of exclusion. Richly detailed descriptions of the natural world contrast with the harsh realities of discrimination and displacement, emphasizing what is at stake as the island’s future hangs in the balance.
When the forced eviction finally occurs, it devastates the residents, severing their ties to the place that has defined their identities for generations. Yet the novel is not solely a story of loss. Harding also explores how memory, storytelling, and family bonds preserve a community long after its physical destruction. Through its poetic prose and compassionate portrayal of marginalized lives, This Other Eden becomes a powerful meditation on resilience and the human need for home, dignity, and connection in the face of injustice.