The acclaimed new novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Harding. >>A Song of Songs of Love ... so touching you could cry.<< The New York Times Apple Island, 1793: Black man Benjamin Honey, a former slave, and his Irish wife Patience settle on a small island off the coast of Maine. For Benjamin, it is paradise. Here he is planting an orchard with the seeds of different apple varieties, which he has brought with him in twelve jute bags. More than a century later, the descendants of the Honeys still live on the island, along with an eccentric group of neighbors. Poor, isolated, but protected from the hostility that would await them on the mainland. Then, in the summer of 1912, Matthew Diamond appears, a retired teacher who teaches the children on Apple Island with missionary zeal. A man with good intentions, but whose idealism is never entirely free of prejudice. His presence attracts the attention of the state authorities and triggers an avalanche of ominous events. >>A heartbreakingly beautiful book based on a true story and tells of a unique island community struggling to survive. Harding tells of the hopes, dreams and resilience of those who do not belong in a world that is mercilessly intolerant of everything different.<< Jury Booker Prize