Paul Harding's novel draws inspiration from the true history of Malaga Island, a racially integrated community off Maine's coast that once thrived in defiance of its era. Beginning in 1792 when formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife Patience settled on the island, the story follows their descendants and the colorful neighbors who built lives alongside them over the next century. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Tinkers weaves together the lives of sisters raising Penobscot orphans, eccentric residents, and a multigenerational portrait of an island caught between promise and peril. A powerful exploration of family, belonging, and community forged against the odds.
