2023 Booker Longlist: This Other Eden by Paul Harding
This Other Eden by Paul Harding is the next book up for our panel. This Other Eden is Harding’s 3rd book. His novel Tinkers, won the Pulitzer and PEN Prizes in 2010.
Synopsis taken from the Booker Prize website: Inspired by historical events, This Other Eden tells the story of Apple Island: an enclave off the coast of the United States where castaways – in flight from society and its judgment – have landed and built a home.
In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey arrives on the island with his Irish wife, Patience, to make a life together there. More than a century later, the Honeys’ descendants remain, alongside an eccentric, diverse band of neighbours.
Then comes the intrusion of ‘civilization’: officials determine to ‘cleanse’ the island. 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…
You can purchase a copy of the book here
Five of our panelists read and reviewed this novel. Keep reading to find out how we rated it.
jenp27
Nicole Del Sesto
The Reader's Room 