This Other Eden
Book description
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…
Why read it?
1 author picked This Other Eden as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
The story at the heart of this novel is based on an island off the coast of Maine that was settled in the mid-1800s by former slaves, some with native American DNA. There, they built a self-contained community without conflict until eugenicists and developers took over.
They were evicted, their homes burned, the dead exhumed and trashed, and several were committed to an asylum for supposedly feeble-minded. The story is, of course, disturbing; however, it is a fascinating anthropological journey, questioning the meaning of family and community and what it means to survive against the odds.
Another master class in…
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