"This Other Eden" by Paul Harding.
Chris’s choice.
This book was given to Chris as a Christmas present in 2023, and after an elongated read Chris saw the merit of it for the book club.
This is historical fiction based on real-world events.
It recounts the issues faced by the inhabitants of a small island, fictionally called Apple Island but is actually named Malaga Island.
The island is small being roughly 200 metres wide and 500 metres long.
The residents of the island suffered from their isolation and were materially poor, under-educated, mal-nourished and in poor health.
Relationships were varied although there was a strong sense of family, and many practical skills.
The book focuses on the actions and consequences of one Rev Matthew Diamond who makes a well-meaning but disastrous intervention.
And following intervention from the state authorities, the consequences are disastrous for the islanders.
The island was cleared in 1912.
Whilst the book is based on an reality, some fictional elements have been introduced, the distinction relies on the intuition of the reader.
Amongst the islanders there are a number of talents, and much focus is placed on Ethan Honey who has artistic skills.
Various comments from club members were noted including:
-
On the positive side, the overall situation of the islanders is deplorable, the real question is what to do about it, and clearly the first answer (as per the book) had appalling results.
-
As literature, there is clever juxtaposition of characters, and some beautiful descriptive passages; but many of these needed a dose of editing.
(When a sentence is so long you have to hunt for the verb . . .).
-
There is also a plethora of names at the beginning of the book, we needed at least a map.
Kindle readers struggled the most.
But generally club members were glad to have persisted with the novel, and had thoughts provoked, including
-
What have we learned in a 100 years, seemingly not much.
-
This was more a documentary than a novel.
-
There were some nit-picks (literally in the book and metaphorically in our discussion) , including a questioning of the felling and moving of the pine tree, and the secret signs.
Also how did Ethan acquire his technical knowledge?
-
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the clash of cultures and the disparity of wealth, let alone divergent life aspirations (e.g. Aborigine versus banker), and our discussion was hence open-ended.
The internet has relevant information.
To listen to comments made by a descendant, see
YouTube Video.
For images, see
Google Image Search.
Doorly score: 3.6
PC. 16th Feb 2025
|
