A novel written by a New Englander and based on a dark chapter of Maine history has become a finalist for both the 2023 Booker Prize and the National Book Award. 

The Booker Prize, first created by a British retail supply company in the 1960s, honors the best works of literature published in English. The novel, This Other Eden, by Paul Harding, has been placed on the “short list,” along with five other finalists. The winning author, to be announced in London on Nov. 26, will receive a £50,000 prize – about $61,000. 

The novel has also been selected as one of five finalists for the 2023 National Book Award. The awards, presented by the National Book Foundation, date back to 1950. The 2023 award winner will be announced on Nov. 15. 

“This Other Eden” is the story of the descendants of an interracial couple living on the fictitious Apple Island. In the late 19th century, the inhabitants are forced to deal with racially intolerant government officials who seek to “cleanse” the island. 

The story, while fictional, is based on the true story of Malaga Island, an island off the Maine coast that was home to an interracial community for nearly 50 years until government officials forced an eviction in 1911. The story stands as a dark testament to government-sanctioned racism in Maine in the early 20th century. 

Harding, a Massachusetts native now living in Long Island, NY, said in an interview published on the Booker Prize’s website that his mother’s family is from Maine. The Pine Tree State is also the setting for his debut and Pulitzer Prize-winning 2009 novel, titled Tinkers. He said in the Booker interview that he read about the Malaga tragedy and viewed photographs related to it.  

The experience, he said, “haunted me,” and compelled him to write a novel related to the chapter in Maine’s history. Not being personally connected to the tragedy, he said he opted to do a fictionalized story based on it. 

“I immediately set about getting an imagined version of the events and, more importantly, the characters up and running, in which I’d be free to shape the story in the context of different literary traditions that resonated with what seem like the universal human experiences of displacement, marginalization, exile, and so forth,” he said in the interview. 

"This Other Eden” is available in bookstores and online retailers now.