Paul Harding’s This Other Eden, published in Canada by Goose Lane Editions, is one of six books on the shortlist for the Booker Prize. The shortlist for the 2023 prize was announced on September 21 in London.

The Booker Prize panel, chaired by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan who has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, offered the following comments about This Other Eden: “Based on a relatively unknown true story, Paul Harding’s heartbreakingly beautiful novel transports us to a unique island community scrabbling a living. The panel were moved by the delicate symphony of language, land, and narrative that Harding brings to bear on the story of the islanders.”

The Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious English-language literary prizes. It is awarded to the book deemed to be the best sustained work of fiction that was written in English and published in both the UK and Ireland. The winning author is awarded £50,000.

This Other Eden is Harding’s third novel and marks a return to the historical fiction genre that he mastered with his Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Tinkers. His new novel was inspired by the true story of Malaga Island, one of America’s first racially integrated communities. It has received rave reviews in the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Guardian, the New Yorker, and numerous other publications. This Other Eden was also recently longlisted for the National Book Prize in Fiction in the US.

Paul Harding will be appearing at the Toronto International Festival of Authors on October 1 and at the Vancouver Writers Festival on October 19, 20, and 21. 

You can learn more about Goose Lane’s forthcoming and recent fiction titles, plus our comprehensive back catalogue here.