Books and Lunch on Tuesdays: This Other Eden In-Person / Online
A superb achievement, Pulitzer Prize–winner Harding’s (Enon, 2013) third novel fictionalizes a shameful true episode in American history. In 1912, the mixed-race residents of Malaga Island off Maine’s coast, who had lived there for generations, were forcibly removed for reasons of “public health” and tourism development. The pseudoscience of eugenics lay behind the decision. In Harding’s version, Esther Honey is the matriarch of a poor, close-knit family of African and Irish descent; other residents on Apple Island include the Lark family, the McDermott sisters, their Penobscot foster children, and eccentric carpenter Zachary Hand to God Proverbs. When retired schoolteacher Matthew Diamond arrives to preach and teach, he recognizes his prejudice yet finds several gifted pupils, including 15-year-old, light-skinned Ethan Honey, a talented artist. Events spiral downward when a committee from the governor’s council takes notice and comes to investigate. The injustice they impose feels infuriating. Harding combines an engrossing plot with deft characterizations and alluring language deeply attuned to nature’s artistry. The biblical parallels, which naturally align with the characters’ circumstances, add depth, and enhance the universality of the themes. Readers must gingerly parse some winding, near-paragraph-long sentences, but this gorgeously limned portrait about family bonds, the loss of innocence, the insidious effects of racism, and the innate worthiness of individual lives will resonate long afterward.
-Booklist (starred review)
- Date:
- Tuesday, November 12, 2024 Show more dates
- Time:
- 12:00pm - 1:00pm
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Murray Room
- Online:
- This is an online event.
- Event URL:
- https://us02web.zoom.us/j/814651580
- Categories:
- Adult
This book discussion program is HYBRID. We will meet in the library, but you may also attend via Zoom. Email Mike at mike.morris@thehowe.org for an invitation or more information.
BLT meets on the second Tuesday of each month at noon. We meet in the library and via Zoom. Bring your lunch and a healthy appetite for good discussion.