Título: This Other Eden: A Novel
Autor: Paul Harding
Sinopse: Shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize
Finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction
A New Yorker Best Books of 2023 • An NPR 2023 "Books We Love" Pick • An NPR Top 10 Book of 2023 • One of Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 • A New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2023 and Best Historical Fiction of 2023 • A Chicago Public Library Favorite Book of 2023 • A Fresh Air Top 10 Best Book of 2023 • A Publisher's Weekly Best Fiction of 2023
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Tinkers, a novel inspired by the true story of Malaga Island, an isolated island off the coast of Maine that became one of the first racially integrated towns in the Northeast.
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.
Contexto da obra
Como livro em inglês, esta obra costuma ganhar também uma camada própria de interesse editorial e linguístico. “This Other Eden: A Novel”, de Paul Harding, publicado pela editora W. W. Norton & Company, em 2023 e com 224 páginas, integra a categoria Livros em Inglês. Por isso, o interesse da obra tende a se ampliar quando o leitor considera também a relação com a língua em que ela circula.
Editora: W. W. Norton & Company
Páginas: 224
Ano: 2023-01-24
Edição:
Linguagem: en
ISBN: 132403629X
ISBN13: 9781324036296
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora W. W. Norton & Company oferecem uma experiência de leitura que combina rigor acadêmico com acessibilidade, frequentemente apresentando obras que dialogam com história, ciência e cultura contemporânea. O catálogo revela uma tendência a publicar textos que exploram temas complexos, como política, economia global, biografias detalhadas e debates filosóficos, sempre com um olhar que privilegia a profundidade e o contexto. As narrativas podem variar do ensaio crítico ao relato documental, incluindo também memórias e análises históricas, com um tom que ora é didático, ora reflexivo, mas sempre fundamentado em pesquisa sólida. Essa diversidade permite ao leitor transitar entre obras que são mais narrativas e outras que adotam um formato mais informativo e analítico.
