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Content snapshot
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Violence
Very heavy
Graphic violence emerges with shattering force at points in the novel, including animal death and child death
Language
A lot
Includes racial slurs used in period-accurate but harsh context
Sexual Content
Very heavy
Content warnings include incest, rape, and sexual assault; reviewers note the novel depicts these as historical fact, though Maine archivists have worked to correct the record that such things actually took place among the real Malaga Islanders
Substance Use
Barely any
Not a significant element
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Forced institutionalization, racism, and suicidal thoughts pervade the back half of the novel as the community is destroyed
What this book is about
Inspired by the real history of Malaga Island, This Other Eden follows a small, isolated mixed-race fishing community as turn-of-the-century eugenics ideology and state authorities move to forcibly evict and institutionalize its residents. Paul Harding's Pulitzer-finalist novel renders both the community's fragile Eden and the violence that destroys it.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Graphic incest and rape depicted (disputed by historians as accurate to the real community)
Child death and animal death depicted graphically
Forced institutionalization under eugenics policy
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