Eden’s Shore
Eden’s Shore is set at some time in the late 18th century (or maybe the early 19th century) mainly in an unnamed Spanish colony in South America. From this you can see that Fagan is untroubled by the specifics of history or geography. His Eden is a fantasy land which simultaneously exhibits all the horrors which beset Latin America over two centuries – the slave trade, genocide of the Indians, ruthless exploitation by American capitalists and bloody revolution, all soaked in poverty, squalor and mindless violence.
The story is written in extravagant prose, sometimes violent, always vivid. Some passages are brutally realistic, others fantastical and some satirical. The initial protagonist is an Irish student, Angel Kelly, who sails for South America to set up a Utopian community. Angel soon drops out of the narrative, returning only near the end, as we hop across an array of different protagonists of contrasting loyalties and ethnicities.
If you prefer your historical fiction to be nailed to a particular time and place, this is not for you. This is an imaginative riot, rich in descriptions of natural grandeur and human depravity that few other authors could match.
