Many thanks to NetGalley, WW Norton Company, and Recorded Books for gifting me a digital ARC of This Other Eden, written by Paul Harding and narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, in exchange for my honest review - 4.5 stars!
In 1792, former slave Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife, Patience, discover an island off the coast of Maine where they could start their life. More than 100 years later, their descendants still inhabit the island along with varying groups of neighbors. But their lives are all changed when a missionary and then state officials enter their lives, forcing them off the island, some into asylums, and some just cast out.
Based on a true story at the height of the eugenics movement, people in charge who think they know better come in and ruin lives. This is a difficult subject to read about, especially because as a society we still are intolerant of anyone who is different. The writing is beautiful and lyrical, and the narrator's voice was perfect. Definitely gives you pause and makes you think, which is what reading is all about.
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