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𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙊𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙀𝙙𝙚𝙣 by Paul Harding
入圍2023年布克獎
2023年美國國家圖書獎決選作品
【跨度百年的歷史，只求生活安穩的小人物如何與權勢拉扯對抗?】
1792年，受解放後的前奴隸班傑明和他的愛爾蘭妻子沛辛思發現了一座無人島，並展開了他們的新生活。歷經一世紀，許多流離的人們在此紮根，島嶼吸納了多元移民，即便生活同樣困苦，曾經被奴役的靈魂卻就此奔放，這裡成為了孤島伊甸，有了獨特的社區樣貌。
然而在1912年，懷有理想卻偏執的退休教師馬修，努力推行教育想助當地孩子扭轉「社經地位」。此舉除了引起了社區內的騷動，同時也引起了海的另一頭－當局的注意，大陸政府不只打算硬性驅離在地人、並以新政策管理居民資格辦理，欲將島嶼開發成觀光勝地...
#歷史小說 #真實故事改編 #種族議題 #觀光休憩開發與在地衝突
這是一本受美國馬拉加島真實故事啟發的小說。馬拉加島是緬因州海岸附近的孤島，後來成為美國東北部第一個種族融合的城鎮之一。
*特殊毛邊書設計，非瑕疵*
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.
